Baby trafficking: Indonesian prosecutors seek 10 years

JAKARTA – Prosecutors on June 30 were seeking up to 10 years’ jail for members of an alleged baby trafficking syndicate accused of selling at least 34 infants, including several sent to Singapore, in one of Indonesia’s largest cross-border human trafficking cases in recent years.

The 19 defendants – 18 women and one man – have been on trial since April over allegations that they trafficked at least 34 babies between 2023 and 2025. Prosecutors said at least 12 of the infants were sent to Singapore, with each baby selling for 200 million rupiah (S$14,500) to 250 million rupiah.

At the centre of the case is 70-year-old Lie Siu Luan, also known as Lily or Popo, whom investigators have described as the alleged ringleader. Prosecutors have said she coordinated the recruitment of babies, prepared documents and arranged for infants to be sent overseas.

At Bandung District Court on June 30, Prosecutor Cucu Gantina asked judges to declare that Lie “has been legally proven guilty of committing the criminal act of recruiting, harbouring, sending, transferring, or receiving a person… for the purpose of exploiting said person within the territory of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia”.

Prosecutors demanded a 10-year sentence for Astri Fitrinika, who is alleged to be one of the syndicate’s main recruiters, as well as for fellow alleged recruiters Djaka Hamdani and Elin, as well as for Lai Su Hua, who is accused of falsifying state documents related to adoption requirements.

Five-year jail terms were sought for each of the other 14 defendants, who allegedly acted as caretakers of the babies.

After the prosecutor read out the demands, both Lie and Astri started crying.

Lie’s lawyer Sendi Sanjaya said he and his client respected the prosecutors’ demands but challenged some of the accusations.

“One crucial element that the prosecutors mentioned is exploitation. But the facts of the trial show that there was no exploitation whatsoever. The adopted children were healthy and their whereabouts were known,” he told reporters after the hearing. “So the element of exploitation was not met. We will mount a defence based on the facts of the trial.”

Astri’s lawyer Hendri Samuel Tampubolon, on the other hand, said he was disappointed that the jail term the prosecutors sought for his client was the same as that for Lie.

“The mastermind was Popo. We have to understand that Astri was under the control of Popo,” he said.

He added that Astri had cooperated with the police and prosecutors.

“We will bring this all up when we present our defence,” he said.

The case surfaced in July 2025 when the Indonesian authorities detained about a dozen suspects in West Java, following a report from a West Java resident named Dani Hidayat.

Dani had joined a Facebook group for people who were looking to adopt, because his wife was heavily pregnant at the time. He was then contacted by Astri, who offered him eight million rupiah for the baby.

The Singapore and Indonesian governments said on Jan 9 that they are working together on the case.

During the trial, Lie said four Singaporeans allegedly acted as adoption agents for the ring, and identified them as “Petter”, “John”, “Mr Tan” and “Mr Chew”.

The trial’s next hearing is set for next week, during which the defendants will present their defences.