Manama: Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested a foreign couple for selling their newborn baby for SR3,000 (Dh2,938).
The couple, a Bangladeshi husband and an Indonesian wife, told the police that they sold their son three years ago to a childless Bangladeshi couple, local news site Sabq has reported. The Bangladeshi couple was also arrested.
In their confessions, the couples said that the Bangladeshi woman, under a plan hatched by the baby’s father, took the place of the Indonesian mother at the Laith general hospital in western Saudi Arabia and was able upon her discharge to register the newborn under her name.
According to the report, the police received a tip off that a Bangladeshi couple living in Laith had a son who did not physically resemble either of the parents, Sabq said.
Acting on the tip, the police gathered information and eventually arrested the couples involved in the sale of the newborn. The Bangladeshi who “acquired” the baby boy is believed to be working in the fish market in Laith.
The police have included the general hospital in their investigation, the report said.
Online readers heaped harsh criticism on the two couples for their “immoral behaviour,” but singed out the mother for “accepting to be involved in the sale of her baby.”
“Money cannot be more powerful than the love of one’s baby,” one reader wrote. “Especially that the amount taken by the genuine parents was low.”
The hospital staff also came under fire for not following proper procedures in checking the identity of the mother before allowing her to go home.
