A newborn baby of only 20 days was rescued on Tuesday morning (20) after being delivered by his mother, 19 years old, as payment for debts with drug traffickers in Manaus.
According to the Civil Police of Amazonas, the baby’s mother is a drug addict and handed him over to two sisters aged 22 and 24, who were arrested by the agents. At the time, the Police served five warrants, two of which were for temporary arrest and three for search and seizure.
Delegate Juliana Tuma, head of the Depca (Specialized Police Station for the Protection of Children and Adolescents), pointed out that a family member denounced the baby’s mother after she said that he had died. “He even presented a false death certificate in digital format,” said the delegate at a press conference.
According to the delegate, she thought, at first, that the child had been adopted illegally. As the investigations progressed, the police discovered that it was a case of human trafficking.
“We went in search of information since the case began. In other words, in summary, the young woman was admitted to a maternity hospital located in the north of Manaus under a false name, and left there on a Saturday, a day when the maternity registry office was not working, so that it was not necessary to register it. Days later, she made up to the family that the baby had died,” detailed Juliana Tuma.
The child was found in a house in the North Zone of Manaus, with one of the criminals. At the scene, the police also identified drugs. The younger suspect was the one who negotiated with the baby’s mother, while the older sister was the one who stayed with the child. In addition to the drugs, the police found the false death certificate and other documents referring to the newborn.
“The baby is in the foster care system and the Child and Youth Court will decide its future from now on,” said the delegate.
According to the delegate, the mother had a debt with trafficking, regretted handing over the child and even asked for her daughter back, but was threatened with death due to the debt. “I was under threat. We have access to several heavy threatening messages,” explains the delegate.
The Police allege that the crime was premeditated by the baby’s sisters and biological mother, “including the false death certificate. Given the dimension of this situation, we represented five warrants in all, three of which were for search and seizure and two for temporary arrest, so that we could solve this case,” said the delegate.
The sisters will answer for human trafficking and forgery of public document. The child’s mother may also be held responsible for the crimes of drug trafficking and misrepresentation.
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