Six criminal cases related to the trafficking of minors are being investigated in Kazakhstan. Suspects face up to 18 years in prison.
According to bes.media, First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Marat Kozhayev said that since the beginning of this year, the department has identified six instances of child trafficking.
According to him, last year law enforcement agencies established 19 such cases.
"There are people who, probably due to certain physiological peculiarities, are unable to have children. They create some demand. There are people who meet that demand," said Marat Kozhayev.
At the same time, he noted that child trafficking in Kazakhstan carries a penalty of imprisonment for up to 18 years.
"These cases involve workers from perinatal centres, orphanages, and citizens with unwanted pregnancies," he noted.
For context, earlier in the Zhetysu region, a 23-year-old woman was detained on charges of child trafficking. It emerged that she sold her two children, born in 2022 and 2023, through intermediaries. The first incident occurred in October 2022, and the second in August 2023. In both cases, the transaction amounted to 1 million tenge.
Shortly before that, in the WKO, another woman was detained for a similar crime. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that a 32-year-old resident of the WKO sold children born in 2021 and 2022.
Furthermore, it was reported that the Taraz Prosecutor's Office, together with the organised crime division of the police department of the Zhambyl region, stopped a case of trafficking in newborn babies.