Child trafficking network identified in Sonora

The Attorney General of Sonora is after 16 people for their alleged involvement in the abduction and trafficking of children.

So far two arrest warrants have been issued: one against Vladimir Alfredo Arzate Carbajal, former deputy of Child Defense and head of the hotline Línea Protege and one against José Manuel Hernández López, former attorney of the Livestock Union of Sonora.

Carlos Navarro Sugich, Sonora attorney general, said that so far authorities have identified 9 children who were irregularly registered in Sonora and whose adoptive parents paid between 80,000 and 150,000 pesos (US$4,740 to US$8,890) for the fake birth certificates. In other cases they paid as little as 15,000 pesos (US$888).

He explained that the anonymous complaint about the irregularities in the adoption process was received on March 18 and added that the adoptive parents will also be indicted.

Nine such cases have been confirmed so far in the municipalities of Nogales and Hermosillo.