The suspected ring leader of the alleged syndicate confessed to trafficking at least 12 babies to Singapore and receiving anywhere between S$17,000 and S$21,600 per child. Eighteen women and one man are currently on trial at the Bandung City District Court and accused of selling at least 34 babies between 2022 and 2025.
The suspected ring leader of the alleged syndicate claimed at least 12 babies were sent to Singapore for adoption for between S$17,000 and S$21 ,600 per child.
Defendants of a baby trafficking case being escorted out of their holding cells at the Bandung District Court, West Java on Apr 7, 2026. Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. BANDUNG, West Java: At least four people in Singapore were allegedly involved in the trafficking of around a dozen babies from Indonesia under the guise of adoption, a key defendant told an Indonesian court recently.
According to court records seen by CNA, Lie Siu Luan, also known as Lily, 70, confessed in a May 26 trial session to the three judges presiding over the case to trafficking at least 12 babies to Singapore and receiving anywhere between S$17,000 and S$21,600 per child. Eighteen women and one man are currently on trial at the Bandung City District Court and accused of selling at least 34 babies between 2022 and 2025, including Lily, who prosecutors believe is the brains and ringleader behind the operation.
John, who Lily described as a notary from Singapore, told her that there was a couple from the Lion City who were looking to adopt a child from Indonesia. Lily claimed that she did not know John’s real identity, despite knowing him from her time living in Singapore for around a year in late 2010s. Lily told the court that she eventually found an Indonesian couple living in Pontianak, West Kalimantan who were struggling to pay for their child’s delivery.
The defendant gave the Indonesian couple 58 million rupiah to pay for the hospital bills, in exchange for their child. Lie Siu Luan, also known as Lily, the suspected ringleader of a baby trafficking syndicate accused of selling babies to couples in Indonesia and Singapore, at the Bandung District Court in West Java, Indonesia. John, meanwhile, gave Lily S$17,000 for her trouble.
After the money spent paying for the hospital bill, hiring a notary to secure the necessary documentation and other expenses, Lily managed to pocket “around S$2,000 to S$3,000 plus”, she told the court. According to court records, at least three more people allegedly contacted the defendant: “Petter”, “Mr Tan” and “Mr Chew”, who Lily described as “adoption agents from Singapore”, saying that they too had clients looking to adopt babies from Indonesia.
While she could not remember how many babies she sold to Petter and Mr Chew, Lily told the court that she sold more than one baby to John and two to Mr Tan. When she was arrested in July last year she was handling a third transaction for Mr Tan, according to court records.
“The defendant claimed that she does not know any of their full identities. This makes it hard for us to have these foreigners come to Indonesia and testify,” Sukanda, the lead prosecutor in the case, told CNA on Tuesday .
The number of people in Singapore involved, the number of babies trafficked and how long the alleged syndicate has operated were more than what authorities earlier believed.prepared by the prosecution and presented to the court on Apr 7, only Petter’s name was mentioned while a total of 10 babies were listed with the earliest case occurring “some time in 2023”.
'Sophisticated' and ‘thriving in secrecy’: What’s beneath Indonesia’s underground baby trafficking trade? After her contact with these adoption agents, Lily purportedly looked for more babies to be adopted, enlisting the help of other defendants who allegedly acted as recruiters, caretakers as well as document forgers to obscure the babies'through social media and joined several online adoption groups looking for parents hoping to give up their newborns, the majority of whom were from the Bandung area of West JavaTo sweeten the deal, the recruiters allegedly provided between 9 million rupiah and 15 million rupiah to parents.
“The birth parents were under the impression that their children would be adopted by the defendants and they would still have some contact with their children many years down the line,” Sukanda said. “They did not know that their babies would be sold to other couples let alone trafficked to another country. ” Once they had the babies, the alleged syndicate reportedly forged birth certificates, listing several defendants as fake birth parents or guardians.
These forged documents allowed the babies to have passports and other forms of identification and for Singaporean adoption papers to be filled out and processed. According to court records, Lily told the judges that prices for the 12 babies trafficked to Singapore increased from S$17,000 to S$19,000, to S$20,000 eventually reaching S$21,600.
Lily, the court records show, allegedly pocketed S$2,000 to S$3,000 each time, with the rest used to pay her crew and other expenses like food, accommodation and plane tickets. The prosecution was supposed to present its final arguments and sentence recommendations against the 19 defendants on Tuesday but the trial was postponed to Jun 18. No official explanation was given for the postponement.
Members of a suspected baby trafficking syndicate emerge from a holding cell at the Bandung District Court in West Java, Indonesia, for their first court appearance on Mar 31, 2026. The alleged syndicate members were arrested in mid-July last year during a series of near-simultaneous raids across Bandung, Jakarta and Pontianak, where the infants were kept in safe houses while in transit.
Singapore's Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli said in February that agencies were working closely with the relevant Indonesian authorities on the matter.
“When the facts are clearer, the Ministry of Social and Family Development will review whether existing adoption processes should be enhanced,” he said in a written response to a parliamentary question. In January, Singapore’s Minister of State for Social and Family Development Goh Pei Ming said the country was working closely with relevant agencies to ensure all inter-country adoptions In Indonesia, many expectant mothers struggle to afford prenatal care and the costs associated with childbirth and raising a child.
Experts have told CNA that while poverty remains the biggest driver of the trade, the problem is compounded by deep social stigma surrounding abortion and widespread misunderstanding of how the legal adoption process works. Social media has further enabled the trade, allowing syndicate members to connect directly with potential birth mothers and adopters across provinces and even national borders.
Please follow us on Google to support us Baby Trafficking Baby Adoption Ring Leader Defendants Bandung District Court West Java Singapore Indonesian Court Lily John Petter Mr Tan Mr Chew Adoption Agents Recruiters Caretakers Document Forgers Social Media Online Adoption Groups Birth Parents Forged Documents Passports Identification Singaporean Adoption Papers Prices Increased Eventually Reaching S$21 600
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