JAKARTA: The mastermind of an Indonesian baby-smuggling syndicate accused of selling dozens of infants, including several sent to Singapore, was found guilty of human trafficking on July 21 and sentenced to seven years in prison.
Lie Siu Luan, 70, also known by the aliases Popo and Lily, was accused of coordinating the recruitment of the babies, preparing forged adoption documents, and arranging for the infants to be sent overseas.
“We declare that the defendant Lie Siu Luan has been legally proven guilty of committing the criminal act of recruiting, harbouring, sending, transferring, or receiving a person... for the purpose of exploiting said person within the territory of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia,” Judge Gatot Ardian Agustriono, who heads the trial’s three-judge panel said, as he read out the ruling at the Bandung District Court in West Java on Tuesday.
The sentence was lower than the prosecutors’ demands of 10 years imprisonment.
Lie is one of 19 defendants – 18 of them women – who have been on trial since April over allegations they trafficked at least 34 babies between 2023 and 2025.
Prosecutors said at least 12 of the infants were sent to Singapore, with each baby selling for 200 to 250 million rupiah (S$18,110).
All 18 of Lie’s fellow defendants were also found guilty. The syndicate’s accused chief recruiter Astri Fitrinika was sentenced to six years and seven months imprisonment, as did fellow recruiters Djaka Hamdani and Elin Marlina.
Lai Su Hua, who was accused of falsifying state documents related to adoption requirements, was also sentenced to six years and seven months.
The other 14 defendants, who allegedly acted as caregivers for the babies, were given three years and four months prison sentences.
During the course of the investigation and trial, Lie and Astri both admitted to most of the offences they were accused of, but maintained that none of the children were abducted, but rather voluntarily given up by their parents, and that all of the children were treated well and not abused.
