Dutch jailed over child smuggling

17 February 2010 05:45 am

A court in the northern Dutch city of Zwolle has sentenced three people to prison for attempting to smuggle a child out of Sri Lanka to the Netherlands using false documentation.

The chief suspect, a woman from the town of Stegeren, was sentenced to 189 days' imprisonment. She was considered the driving force behind the crime. Her ex-boyfriend was sentenced to 134 days. An accomplice who helped provide the false documents was sent to prison for six days.

The judge handed down a higher sentence on the woman and her ex-boyfriend than the Public Prosecutor had demanded. The court noted that the two had been already been imprisoned for eight weeks following an earlier attempt at an illegal adoption. After their release they began a new attempt to smuggle a child from Sri Lanka to the Netherlands. (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)