Couple charged for selling French-born baby in South Africa

French police have arrested a man accused of buying a baby girl from her under-age mother to sell her in South Africa. The man, who is of Romanian origin, and his partner were due to appear in court near Paris on Saturday after being detained on Thursday.

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The couple were to be charged with aggravated trafficking in human beings and making a profit from adoption.

The man paid the baby’s biological mother, a Romanian minor living in a squat just outside Paris, 7,000 euros in 2010 and registered as his own, according to police sources.

Questioned by police, he admitted being the go-between in the sale of the baby, claiming to have been paid 2,000 euros and plane ticket to South Africa.

He said that he bought her for a “cousin”, living in South Africa at the time, because his wife had not managed to become pregnant, according to Le Parisien newspaper.

His partner was charged because she looked after the little girl while waiting for the sale to go through.

Police, who have been searching for the bay for two years, believe that the baby girl and her new family are now in the United States, having changed identities.