Internet baby sale scandalises Belgium

A wave of emotion and disbelief has swept through Belgium after a new-born baby was sold on the internet.

His parents, aged 24 and 22, already have one child, and decided they couldn’t afford to keep the little boy. So they accepted money for him from a Dutch couple they had found on the net.

The baby was born in hospital in Ghent, but his mother admitted herself under the Dutch man’s name.

“The couple are suspected of registering the birth in a false name. That is, the name he was given was not that of his real mother,” said a prosecutor.

Critics are asking if babies are now for sale on eBay, calling it trafficking in human beings.

Since his birth in July, the baby has been properly cared for, and will stay with his Dutch family for the time being. It is not known what might happen if his real parents are convicted and jailed for the offense.