Wealthy Singaporean adoptive parents paid more than S$20,000 per child, in defiance of Indonesian law that requires adoption to be free. - Photo illustration: Pexels
BANDUNG, West Java (Indonesia): Baby Arya flew from Jakarta to Singapore’s Changi Airport in mid-2025, cradled by a couple posing as his parents.
He was one of at least 15 Indonesian newborns trafficked into Singapore by a syndicate that preyed on desperate parents in West Java, offering them up to 20 million rupiah (S$1,700) to surrender their babies.
Wealthy Singaporean adoptive parents paid more than S$20,000 per child, in defiance of Indonesian law that requires adoption to be free.
“The ring selected the good-looking ones for Singapore, while the rest went to the ‘domestic market’,” said Senior Commissioner Ade Sapari, director of special crimes at the West Java Police, in an interview with The Straits Times on Wednesday (Jan 14).
Indonesian investigators established that married couples were recruited by the trafficking ring, with the babies added to their Kartu Keluarga, or Family Cards, based on fake birth certificates.
The sham documents were used to obtain passports from the Pontianak immigration office.
The A4-sized Kartu Keluarga, issued by Indonesia’s Civil Registry Office, is a record of key information about all members of a household. This document is required for passports, school enrolment, marriage registration and healthcare.
Earlier speculation in Indonesia was that smugglers relied on land crossings through Johor Baru.
However, Ade clarified: “The route wasn’t through Johor Bahru, but went directly to Changi from Jakarta.”
Infants from Bandung, Sukabumi and Cianjur in West Java, among other places were transported to Jakarta, then to Pontianak for the paperwork. Back in Jakarta, they were taken on direct flights to Singapore, Ade explained.
Child and women’s rights activist Maria Advianti said infant traffickers typically pose as a father and mother, with the child, to travel under the guise of a family holiday.
Some use travel agencies to move in groups. Once the official tour programme ends, they separate from the main group, claiming they have their own private itinerary.
Advianti, a former deputy chief of Indonesian Commission for the Protection of Children, added that Singapore could also be a transit point for trafficked babies.
Ade said a key suspect in the trafficking ring is from Pontianak, in West Kalimantan, and maintains extensive networks there.
On Jan 9, the Singapore and Indonesian governments said they are working together to review allegations of babies being trafficked into Singapore for adoption. Singapore authorities are also in touch with affected adoptive parents to explain the situation.
Reports of the alleged trafficking ring sending infants to Singapore surfaced after the Indonesian authorities detained about a dozen suspects in West Java in July 2025.
A district court in West Java is expected to begin by March 2026 the trial of a syndicate, which, according to police, arranged the sale of 25 infants. Out of those, 15 infants – aged between five and 14 months – were transported to Singapore.
Most cases were linked to the ring, which targeted vulnerable expectant parents, Ade said. The syndicate offered them between 10 million rupiah (S$850) and 20 million rupiah, in addition to covering expenses for prenatal care and childbirth.
“They made a down payment when the mothers became pregnant. Some of the mothers already had four or five children.”
The investigation dossiers on 13 suspects – compiled from interrogations and field evidence – will be submitted to the West Java Prosecutors’ Office by the end of January for the preparation of indictments, Ade said.
Police collected evidence including several notarised, English-translated adoption documents, along with notes detailing the costs of childbirth, childcare and Indonesian agency fees. These costs, totalling more than S$20,000, were billed to the Singaporean agency.
West Java police spokesman Senior Commissioner Hendra Rochmawan (left) during a media briefing on human trafficking suspects (in the background) on July 15, 2025. - Photo: INDONESIAN POLICE’S TV RADIO POLRI
Under Indonesian law, adoption must be free of charge, and stringent conditions apply. These include requirements that adopters be a married couple aged between 30 and 55, demonstrate economic stability, and obtain approval from the Ministry of Social Affairs, which all orphanages must be registered with.
Adoption by couples living overseas is prohibited, but foreigners who have lived in Indonesia for at least two years may adopt a child subject to stringent requirements.
Human trafficking in Indonesia carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a 600 million rupiah fine upon conviction.
Advianti urged the government to strengthen surveillance and demonstrate the political will to combat trafficking.
“The government could act faster by flagging discrepancies in travel logs, for example, investigating cases where a ‘family’ of three departs the country, but only two people return,” she told ST.
On Jan 14, Singapore’s Minister of State for Social and Family Development Goh Pei Ming said adoption agencies have to do due diligence on the children that they bring into Singapore, and those that knowingly bring in children of suspicious origin will be dealt with. - The Straits Times/ANN
