Baby-smuggling report is biased, say Bulgarian police
Bulgarian police have accused a BBC television crew of producing a biased news report on alleged baby smugglers.
Police had received a video from the BBC the day before that appeared to show a Bulgarian man negotiating to sell toddlers and babies, Varna police spokeswoman Kalina Pencheva said.
Hours later, Hasan Ahmed Hasan, 39, was arrested and police launched pre-trial proceedings into the case.
The footage allegedly shows Hasan talking to the BBC reporters posing as British customers about the sale of children for £40,000 (€50,000).
The BBC report, which was broadcast last night, also allegedly shows Hasan promising to bring the babies across European borders to London for an additional fee.
The chief of the Varna police directorate, Veselin Petrov, today said the BBC report showed the events “in a biased way.”
“We have not found evidence that an organised crime ring sells Bulgarian children for €60,000, as shown in the video,” Petrov said.
Petrov also criticised the reporters for not contacting law enforcement officials beforehand.
The BBC stood by its report, which it said was “clearly in the public interest".
