Heartbreaking moment mom tries to sell her seven-year-old son for £4,000 in shopping centre food court to pay off debts
Authorities say the woman named Nargiza, 36, advertised the trade online, claiming she needed the money to pay off outstanding debts.
The mother was detained after officials from anti-slavery charity Alternativa posed as purchasers in response to her apparent ad.
A video clip shows the moment she allegedly met the “buyers” in the food court of a shopping mall in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
She brought the boy with her and said he “didn’t mind” being traded to a new family, it is claimed.
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The sting operation to save the boy comes amid concern in Russia over children being traded into sexual slavery or for body parts with the involvement of organised criminal gangs.
“Until the end we hoped it was a made-up story, that this was someone's stupid joke or a fraud for money,” said a Alternativa spokesman.
“However, when our group, together with the employees of the organised crime investigation group, left for the 'deal', we witnessed the boy being sold."
“Nargiza received the money and gave the child to a person she did not know,” they added.
Upon investigation, authorities allege that the woman attempted to sell her eldest son because her husband “did not like him."
Sources suggest the woman lived with the man – whom she shares two kids with - in in a two-room apartment.
The boy she allegedly attempted to sell was from a previous partner.
The woman has now been detained under Russia’s child trafficking laws, and her son has been placed in medical care.
It comes as Oleg Melnikov, of Alternativa, earlier warned of a rise in Russian women selling their children compared to previous years.
He said the women often blamed financial difficulties but “low moral standards” also accounted for their actions.
“We know these kids have no chance to get legal documents,” he said.
“They will end up in the hands of beggars on the streets or paedophiles.”
Fears have been expressed that children can also be traded by sex criminals or for body parts amid several harrowing reports in recent years.