PARIS, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- French authorities cracked a baby-smuggling ring run by Bulgarian gypsies, France's Liberation newspaper reported Wednesday.
Police retrieved seven healthy babies in the Paris area Tuesday, and arrested seven couples who had "adopted" them.
The gypsies were selling baby girls for $6,000 apiece and boys for $7,200, Liberation reported.
The biological mothers are often gypsies as well. Many of them are young women of modest means, the newspaper wrote, citing French authorities.
They were paid between $480 to $2,400 for their babies, the newspaper said.
The smugglers, based in France and Italy, reportedly found families seeking to adopt through word of mouth. Some families already had children. Investigators believe they were seeking to adopt a boy if they only had girls.
The arrests come after months of investigation into the trafficking by French and Bulgarian police.
The baby-smuggling ring first came to light after charges filed in July 2004 by a Bulgarian who alleged her baby had been kidnapped, Liberation reported.
