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Pensioner Detained in Chechnya for Child Trafficking

Chechen law enforcement officials have detained a pensioner in the republic's capital on suspicion of child trafficking.

The elderly woman was detained Tuesday in Grozny, Interfax reported, citing a local law enforcement source.

According to the source, investigators established that the suspect had taken a baby boy from Makhachkala, capital of the neighboring Dagestan republic, to Grozny, where she sold him for 550,000 rubles ($17,500) in the Yellow Sea restaurant.

Investigators later said that the child was 20 months old and opened a criminal case on charges of attempting to commit a crime and human trafficking.

If convicted, the woman faces up to 10 years in prison.

Police are currently searching for possible accomplices and checking whether the woman may have committed similar crimes, Interfax said.

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