A Ukrainian mother has been arrested and charged with human trafficking after attempting to sell her six-year-old son to a man at a pizza restaurant in exchange for £18,500, in what police described as a case that “sends a chill down your spine.”
The 39-year-old woman from the Lutsk district was caught in a police sting operation after the would-be buyer himself alerted authorities to the offer. Officers spent several days documenting the crime before moving in at the moment of the exchange, arresting the woman immediately after she received the money and handed over the child.
“The man who was offered the child turned to law enforcement authorities,” a police spokesperson said. “Immediately after receiving the money, the woman was detained.” Footage of the arrest, which has circulated widely, shows officers apprehending her at the scene.
The child is now safe and has been placed into state care. The woman, who has two older children aged 13 and 16 living with their father, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted under Ukraine’s human trafficking laws.
Police were unsparing in their assessment of the case. “It isn’t just about a crime,” a spokesperson said. “It’s about a child whose own mother valued him at $25,000. It all happened in a cynical manner and, worse, deliberately.”
The case is not an isolated incident. In January, a separate Ukrainian couple were arrested in Mykolaiv shortly after exchanging a newborn baby for $10,000 — the equivalent of approximately £7,450. The mother, 21, and her 38-year-old partner had reportedly begun identifying potential buyers while she was still pregnant, intending to use the proceeds for personal expenses. The final handover took place on 2 January, just one day after the baby was born, with officers arresting the pair near the maternity hospital shortly afterwards. Both were charged under Article 149, Part 3 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, which covers the most serious categories of human trafficking and carries substantial prison sentences as well as potential property confiscation upon conviction.
