A 70-year-old Indonesian woman has been sentenced to seven years behind bars after prosecutors said she helped run a shocking international baby trafficking ring that sold infants for adoption with fake paperwork.

Lie Siu Luan was found guilty on Tuesday, July 21, of coordinating the sourcing and sale of babies between Indonesia and Singapore, according to reports from The Jakarta Post, The Straits Times and the BBC.

Authorities said Lie did not act alone. She was accused of leading a network of 18 other people who helped recruit babies, care for them, create false documents and pose as biological mothers in front of potential adoptive parents.

All 18 of the other defendants were also found guilty. They received prison sentences ranging from three to six years.

The disturbing case has rattled Indonesia and exposed what officials described as a calculated operation that treated babies like merchandise.

According to investigators, the ring sold infants for adoption using fabricated documents and brokers who helped move the children through the scheme. Lie admitted during trial that she sent at least 12 babies to Singapore for adoption in 2022.

Each baby was reportedly sold for about $13,179.

Police previously said the broader investigation uncovered 25 infants, each around a year old, who had allegedly been sold for roughly 16 million Indonesian rupiah, or about $893, in earlier transactions reported by the BBC.

The case first came to light after a West Java resident, Dani Hidayat, reported a suspicious approach from someone inside a Facebook group for people looking to adopt children. According to the BBC, Hidayat said a member of the group contacted him and offered to buy his baby.

That tip helped police unravel what they described as an international trafficking ring.

In July 2025, Indonesian police announced they had arrested 13 people in West Java tied to the alleged operation. By April 2026, 19 defendants were on trial at Bandung District Court.

The defendants included 18 women and one man. Their alleged roles ranged from recruiters and infant caretakers to people who placed the babies’ names on fake documents.

Prosecutors said the scheme relied on deception from the start. Some of the defendants allegedly pretended to be the babies’ biological mothers when dealing with prospective adoptive parents.

On July 21, Judge Gatot Ardian Agustriono said in court that Lie had been legally proven guilty of recruiting, harboring, sending, transferring or receiving a person for the purpose of exploiting the babies, according to The Straits Times.

Lie claimed in court that she “didn’t know it was wrong” to send babies overseas and sell them for adoption, according to the BBC. She also allegedly blamed a partner from Singapore, saying that person convinced her the operation was not illegal.

The court did not buy that defense.

Still, Lie’s seven-year sentence was reportedly lighter than expected. Despite that, she chose not to appeal the ruling.

“Our client accepts the judges’ ruling,” her lawyer, Seni Sanjaya, said, according to The Straits Times.

The case has drawn attention not only because of the number of babies involved, but because of the chilling allegations that infants were moved across borders with false documents while brokers allegedly profited from desperate families and vulnerable children.

Photos from the trial showed defendants being escorted in and out of Bandung District Court in West Java, where the high-profile case played out over several months.

PEOPLE reported that it reached out to the West Java Police and Bandung District Court for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.