Three people have been arrested in Cardiff after a baby was allegedly sold to a couple for £11,000.
The Spanish-born child’s Romanian mother claimed her baby died during an emergency operation in a UK hospital, detectives said.
Spanish authorities said the child may have been sold for up to £11,000.
The 19-year-old mother was arrested by police in Bristol airport and the couple, aged 25 and 26, were arrested in the Rumney area of Cardiff. They had the child with them.
All three have now been released on bail pending further inquiries by both Spanish and British officials.
A South Wales Police spokesperson said the unidentified baby boy, believed to be six weeks old, is now “safe and well” and in the care of the local Cardiff authority.
Spanish police alerted UK authorities after the mother claimed her child had died 15 days after his birth in the Virgen de la Concha hospital Zamora in northern Spain in September. Hospital authorities confirmed to the BBC the woman had left the hospital after three days.
She claimed the child had died as a result of an operation to correct an injury to a vein, but her son was later discovered alive in Cardiff Bay.
DNA tests are being conducted to determine the boy’s father.
Spanish police told Press Association their investigation remained open and they had not ruled out additional arrests.
