Algerian authorities believe 9 children were taken to France An Algerian court has charged 13 individuals accused of kidnapping children and smuggling them into France. Security authorities detained the French and Algerian defendants in 2009.
Prisoners had been conducting the illegal smuggling ring since the 1990s, sources revealed, although the number of children abducted was still unknown.
Security forces began investigations after an Algerian woman died in 2009, reportedly due to a botched abortion by a doctor who is accused of masterminding the criminal operation.
The doctor, known as Khalifa, was allegedly keeping newborn babies before smuggling them to Europe for adoption in return for large sums of money.
Algerian security authorities recovered three children and discovered 12 adoption certificates, belonging to nine children who had been smuggled to Europe.
Women have testified to being threatened by Khalifa, before being forced to abandon their babies after birth.