Police investigating an international baby smuggling ring find the skeletons of two infants in Indian adoption charity office
Officers also rescued ten babies all aged under one waiting to be sold
POLICE probing a global baby smuggling ring have rescued 13 more newborns and discovered the skeletons of two infants.
Ten children all aged under one were found in a home for the mentally disabled in the impoverished district of South 24 Parganas in West Bengal.
They were lying on a blanket severely malnourished, with some suffering from chest and skin infections.
Detectives then made the chilling discovery of two infant skeletons in a second raid in the neighbouring district of North 24 Parganas.
It is thought the babies died while waiting to be sold as part of the sophisticated smuggling ring.
It comes after officers rescued three newborn babies - one born just hours earlier - from biscuit cartons in a medical store.
Police fear the smuggling ring may have been running for three years - meaning they could have trafficked hundreds of babies in that time.
It is thought that unmarried women seeking abortions were paid to have the baby and hand it over.
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Medics involved in the shocking operation would then £3,539 for a boy and £1,179 for a girl.
After the babies were born, they would be moved from the nursing home to a nearby state-run hospital for post-natal care.
They would then be smuggled away in biscuit cartons, while some healthy babies were sold to parents who had lost their own children.
Rajesh Kumar of West Bengal's Crime Investigation Department (CID), said 18 people had been arrested for taking the newborn babies and trafficking them for adoption in India and overseas.
He added: "It is a huge network of NGOs, nursing homes, doctors and middlemen dealing in illegal adoption and baby trafficking that the police have busted.
"Our men are now building on the huge leads they have already got in this case."
Those arrested include the owners of the clinics, midwives, doctors, owners of the charities, as well as court clerks who are accused of forging documentation for the babies.
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