London/Prague- Czech police last week intervened against traffickers in children in Cheb, west Bohemia, and Prague thanks to the investigation made by the British police and journalists from the British daily The Sun, The Sun said today.
The paper published an extensive report about the operation and a photograph of the chief suspect.
Last week, Czech police announced that they arrested three men from Cheb who intended to sell a 10-month-old girl abroad for 100,000 euros. The health of the baby was not threatened either in the course of the operation or during the investigation.
The accused maintain that they did not intend to sell the girl, but only wanted to lure the money from the people who showed interest in buying the child.
The Sun wrote today that it was its own case from the start and that it later handed it over to the British police who then successfully completed the operation jointly with the Czech police and Interpol.
A Sun reporter passed himself for a rich banker whose wife cannot have children.
Three journalists from The Sun met the chief perpetrator in Cheb at the end of April and they secretly recorded the meeting. The man told them that he was not allowed to travel to another EU country.
According to their report, the following day the man took them to a Romany settlement where they were searched and then introduced to the boss of a smuggling criminal gang who showed them an album with the photos of children for sale.
Since they showed interest in buying a white-skinned, blonde girl with blue eyes the price was raised from the original 25,000 euros to 55,000 euros.
The reporters then urged the chief suspect to visit them in London where they met him in a hotel near the Tower and agreed that the total price for the child with necessary documents will be 115.000 euros.
Two days later, a new meeting followed to which the reporters invited a police woman from Scotland Yard who pretended to be the wife of one of the reporters, and another detective.
The talks were recorded and detectives watched it from the next room. Scotland Yard informed Interpol and created a 10-member team that started search for the child.
After the meeting, the British detectives left for Prague and started a joint operation with Czech policemen.
At the meeting of the reporters and the British police woman with the accused in Cafe Reduta, the British policemen handed 60,000 euros to the perpetrators as an advanced payment after which Czech police arrested them.
At the same time, the police cracked down on suspects in Cheb and other places where other people were arrested and documents seized, including forged documents of the child.
Czech police organised crime squad (UOOZ) spokeswoman Blanka Kosinova, who informed the Czech media about the case last week, was unable to either confirm or refute the information of The Sun today.
"We cannot disclose further details in view of the ongoing investigation. The questioning of witnesses and other persons has started and disclosing further information on the case could hamper the investigation," Kosinova told CTK.
She said that all three accused had been taken into custody.