By Wassim Seifeddine
BEIRUT (AA) - The Lebanese authorities have arrested a man for allegedly “selling” his one-year-old daughter for $1,200, according to Lebanon’s General Directorate for Internal Security.
“The child’s 23-year-old mother filed a complaint with police in Lebanon’s eastern Zahle area in which she said that her husband -- also 23 years old -- had ‘sold’ their youngest daughter,” the directorate said in a statement issued late Wednesday.
The child, who was reportedly born last year, was allegedly sold for 1.8 million Lebanese liras (roughly $1,200), according to the statement.
Subsequent investigations, the statement added, had also led to the arrest of an 85-year-old “middleman” who had allegedly arranged the sale.
The middleman’s arrest, in turn, led to the arrest of two more individuals who allegedly purchased the child, the same statement continued, without providing any information on the latter two suspects.
While under interrogation, the child’s father -- who reportedly has a criminal record -- confessed to having also offered his two-year-old daughter for sale, according to the statement.
The Lebanese authorities have since returned the one-year-old child to her mother, while investigations into the incident remain ongoing, according to the security directorate.