MELAKA: For months, a midwife had been helping women who got pregnant out of wedlock to deliver their babies.

       However, there was nothing altruistic about her actions.

       The 33-year-old woman, nicknamed “Nana”, is the mastermind behind a gang that the police have codenamed the Nana Gang.

       The gang is under investigation over its clandestine operations of selling the babies to childless couples for up to RM12,000.

       Its illicit activities came to light after a couple lodged a police report against the gang for failing to obtain documents for a baby they “adopted”.

       Yesterday, Melaka police said they had crippled the baby trafficking syndicate with the arrest of 16 individuals, including four Indonesian women, and rescued three babies and a five-year-old girl.

       Melaka police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Abdul Majid Mohd Ali said members of the syndicate, aged between 25 to 58 years, were arrested in a series of raids recently.

       “The syndicate had been active since March,” he said, adding that members included five locals.

       “We have also launched a manhunt for a 27-year-old midwife who is still at large.”DCP Abdul Majid said the gang used social media platforms to identify women pregnant out-of-wedlock and offered them payments as well as midwife services during delivery at fixed venues.

       The babies born were mostly sold to childless couples for RM12,000, he said, adding that the midwife was paid RM1,000 for each delivery.

       The gang had sold three babies so far, he said, adding that the police were tracing the individuals who had dealt with them.

       “The babies rescued are two baby boys, a baby girl aged between two and seven months and a five-year-old girl,” he said.

       DCP Abdul Majid added that police had confiscated four vehicles, eight mobile phones and four international passports, adding that all the suspects were placed under remand until Dec 27 to assist in the investigation.