The scheme involved medical staffers informing mothers that their babies had died shortly after birth and then were buried at a hospital cemetery, but they were secretly being taken away and sold to adoptive parents, according to Georgian journalist Tamuna Museridze, who was among a group of journalists that uncovered the scandal, per the Daily Mail.
In 2022, Elene Diesadze was scrolling through TikTok when she came across a girl's profile who looked exactly like her. That girl was Anna Panchulize, who turned out to be her identical twin sister. They are both currently 19.
The sisters became friends after chatting for months and then separately learned that they were adopted. That's when they both decided to take a DNA test, which revealed that they were not only related but identical twins.
Despite being sold in an illegal baby trafficking scandal in 2005, Elene and Anna said they had good childhoods and are grateful for their adoptive parents but are disheartened by the revelation.
Museridze, who now runs a Facebook group dedicated to reuniting stolen babies with their parents, told the AFP that she arranged for the twins to take a DNA test. She said that she has evidence of at least 120,000 babies who "were stolen from their parents and sold" between 1950 and 2006.
The journalist explained that the adoptive parents were often unaware that the adoptions were illegal and were told lies about the birth parents' circumstances.
Lia Korkotadze, Elene's 61-year-old adoptive mother, told AFP that she decided to adopt after learning she and her husband were unable to have children a year into their marriage. She said she had no idea the adoption was "illegal."
"Adopting from an orphanage seemed virtually impossible due to incredibly long waiting lists," said Korkotadze.
A friend told her in 2005 that there was a six-month-old baby available for adoption from a local hospital, explaining there was a fee. Korkotadze said she "realized that was my chance" and agreed to adopt.
"They brought Elene right to my house," she said, claiming that she never suspected "anything was illegal."
"It took months of excruciating bureaucratic delays to formalize the adoption through court," she said.
Museridze said that more than 800 families have been reunited thanks to her Facebook group.
The Georgian government has made a handful of arrests over the last 20 years after making multiple attempts to investigate the scheme, according to the Daily Mail.
