Ten U.S. citizens suspected of having “stolen” 31 children aged 2 months to 12 years, were arrested Friday in Haiti.
Ten people, five men and five women, were arrested along with 31 children, aged 2 months to 12 years, a Haitian police officer while they were crossing the Dominican border, said Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Yves Christallin.
“This flight is not an adoption,” he said, adding that “to leave Haiti a child needs a permit from the Institute of Social Welfare, which handles cases adoption.
According to him, two pastors, one in Haiti and one in Atlanta (Southeast U.S.), are also involved in this case.
American citizens have been brought to justice and were held Saturday evening at the Central Directorate of Judicial Police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti with two alleged accomplices, confirmed to AFP Chief of Police Mario Andresol .
An investigation was initiated to determine under what circumstances ten Americans came into possession of the children, said Andresol “is now in justice to his work,” he said, adding that children were transferred to a shelter in Croix-des-Bouquets, north of Port-au-Prince.
“It’s a shame that this is the Americans who are involved in this case because they are helping us like other countries do,” said the commerce minister.
In an interview with U.S. television network NBC, a relative of Americans said they arrested were charged with trafficking in children, and that this case was, they said, a misunderstanding administration.
The Americans were presented as part of a charity called “The Refuge for a new life for children, based in the state of Idaho (north-western United States).
Many children have been adopted since the earthquake that devastated Haiti January 12.
The U.S. administration on Wednesday urged the prospective adoptive parents of Haitian children to be patient, pending the establishment of “transparent” procedures to avoid mistakes and trafficking of children.
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