A woman has been arrested for attempting to sell her seven-year-old son to strangers in the hopes of receiving £4,000 in return.
The mother-of-three, 36, allegedly advertised her son as being up for sale in an attempt to pay off accumulated debts and met “buyers” at a shopping centre.
The 36-year-old, named only as Nargiza, has been detained under Russia’s child trafficking laws after volunteers from an anti-slavery charity responded to her advertisements.
Members of Alternativa posed as interested buyers and went to meet Nargiza, who claimed her seven-year-old son “didn’t mind” being transferred to another family for a sum of money, it was claimed.
Nargiza was caught out after the sting operation, which comes amid concerns in Russia over children being traded into sexual slavery or even for body parts for organised crime gangs.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “Until the end we hoped it was a made-up story, that this was someone’s stupid joke or a fraud for money.
“However, when our group, together with the employees of the organised crime investigation group, left for the ‘deal’, we witnessed the boy being sold.
“Nargiza received the money and gave the child to a person she did not know.”
The 36-year-old was taken into custody while her son, who was said to have been from a previous partner and disliked by her current husband, was placed into medical care.
Alternativa’s spokesperson added: “Nargiza explained that her husband did not like her eldest son, and they decided to sell the child to pay off their debts.”
Oleg Melnikov of Alternativa had earlier warned in a rise in Russian women selling their children, saying that they blamed financial difficulties but had “low moral standards”.
He added: “We know these kids have no chance to get legal documents. They will end up in the hands of beggars on the streets or paedophiles.”
They are even fears kids could be flogged for their organs to be harvested.
