A man who allegedly sold his 11-month-old baby on Facebook to fund his online gambling has been arrested by Indonesian police. 

The 36-year-old, who is being identified as RA, was caught after the child’s biological mother returned home to find her baby missing.

Zain Dwi Nugroho, the police chief in Tangerang, a city which merges into eastern capital Jakarta, said: “She pressed RA to share the whereabouts of their child until he eventually confessed that he had sold the newborn.

“RA saw on Facebook that the buyers were looking to purchase a toddler so he sent them a message and arranged the purchase.”

He added that the man claimed to police that he needed the money because of financial hardships but then used the proceeds for online gambling.

The police found the baby in a rented home in Tangerang, alongside two adults who were also arrested for suspected involvement in a human trafficking network – a crime that carries a punishment of up to 15 years in jail and a 600 million rupiah fine in Indonesia.

Traffickers should be ‘punished severely’

Ai Maryati, the head of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission, told detiknews: “There is no excuse to be treating children this way and violation of their rights has to be punished severely.”

However, it comes just a month after authorities dismantled a baby trafficking ring in the vast archipelago. 

These cases are not isolated. Roughly 9.3 per cent of people were living under the international poverty line in 2023, and police say some consider their children as a way out.

Police in Depok, a city which is directly south of Jakarta, uncovered a baby trafficking ring in September after receiving a tip-off, where they arrested eight people involved in buying and selling young children online.

Arya Perdan, the city’s police chief, said the children were advertised on Facebook, with prices ranging 10 million to 15 million rupiah (between about £490 and £740). The traffickers then took the infants to Bali, where they were re-sold for as much as 45 million (£2,195), CNN Indonesia reported.

According to the United Nations, around 56 per cent of all human trafficking victims worldwide are in the Asia Pacific region, with south and southeast Asia considered key hubs for supplying victims.