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| A mother holding a baby's feet (archive) |
Shocking details have been revealed by Greek media about the scheme of substituting newborn infants in maternity wards and illegal adoptions.
Currently, 8 individuals have been incarcerated due to their involvement in the criminal network that trafficked infants and employed surrogate mother techniques, including two doctors from Chania in Crete.
The arrested individuals have extensive careers in the field of medicine, and it is not ruled out that more people within the same hospital might be involved.
Investigations conducted by the Organized Crime Prosecutor's Office in Athens have uncovered that the group's profits exceeded 3 million euros.
The amount earned, according to the Financial and Economic Crime Unit (SDOE) audit cited by Protothema, has been "deposited" into 5 offshore companies by the members of the infant trafficking network in Crete.
According to well-informed sources, these companies have been operating for at least the past six years, with significant monetary transactions occurring every month.
The investigation is ongoing, but the police, in collaboration with SDOE, are attempting to freeze these funds and seize them.
Furthermore, it is learned that the trafficking ring exploited vulnerable women, using them as egg donors and surrogate mothers. They also deceived patients through false embryo transfers and facilitated illegal adoptions.
Up until December 2022, at least 182 cases of exploitation of women in the field of egg retrieval and surrogacy have been registered, while more than 400 cases of deception through virtual IVF were investigated.