Bulgarian and Greek police have arrested 14 people over allegations that they trafficked newborn babies to Greece, Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said yesterday.

Five people were arrested in Bulgaria and nine others in Greece for allegedly organising the illegal adoption of at least 14 Bulgarian babies, primarily of Roma origin, Mr Tsvetanov said.

The arrests were made in the cities of Varna, Burgas and Yambol, in eastern Bulgaria, and in Lamia in the southeast of Greece, where police also found a newborn baby prepared for adoption on faked documents, Varna regional prosecutor Vladimir Chavdarov told state BTA news agency.

The price of the babies depended on “their gender and skin colour” with an average €25,000 paid for boys and €18,000-€20,000 for girls, the prosecutor was quoted as saying.

The pregnant Roma women, who agreed to give birth in a Lamia hospital and sell their babies to Greek couples, received just a fraction of the sum, he said.