Midwives help police capture baby abductor

West Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Abdul Kamil Razak said Thursday his detectives had made a quick arrest of the abductor of a baby, thanks to thorough reports of two midwives who had worked with the suspect at the same community health center the baby was abducted from.

One of the midwives, Khulyatun, said she had received a text message from the suspect, telling her she had just given a birth just after Murtanti, the woman whose baby she had had helped deliver, had lost her newborn child.

“I shared this information with my friend Lestari on January 12. She looked suspiciously like the suspect and we decided to visit her on January 13,” Khulyatun told reporters on Thursday.

Khulyatun said she quickly recognized the baby when she saw him at the suspect’s house.

“I stayed at her house to examine whether she had any signs of a woman who had just given birth, while Lestari reported the news to our boss, who passed on the information to the health center chief, who reported it to the police,” she said.

The suspect, who allegedly desperately wanted a baby of her own, is being charged with violating the child protection law and Article 328 of the Criminal Code on kidnapping, which carry a total of up to 27 years in prison.

Child protection groups had suggested the abduction was linked to a human trafficking syndicate.
Governor Fauzi Bowo said he would award the two midwives.