KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 — An Al Jazeera undercover investigation has revealed a thriving trade in Malaysia where babies are being sold like commodities, often with the help of corrupt government officials.

In an exclusive documentary to be aired on the news channel at 10.30pm today, 101 East reporter Chan Tau Chou will expose how easy it is to buy a baby in Malaysia, where traffickers even offer potential customers catalogues of pregnant women to choose from.

“Legal adoption can take years in Malaysia, and it’s a complicated process.

“Many people turn to traffickers to buy babies. And then they pay doctors and government officials to falsify birth documents, so that no one knows the baby is not theirs,” Chan said.

The documentary, shot after four months of covert investigation, will expose a network of traffickers, doctors and government officials profiting from what the network described as “the most vulnerable women and children”.

Hartini Zainudin, a child rights activist, told Al-Jazeera that the trade was like “a supermarket”. Prices of babies vary according to race, skin colour, gender and weight.

Boys, and usually fair-skinned, fetch the highest price.

“You can choose your baby online. It’s like a supermarket,” she was quoted as saying.

The babies are said to be priced between US$1,500 (RM6,750) and US$2,500 (RM11,250), which makes it a lucrative business.

Posing as potential baby buyers, the Al Jazeera team during their investigation discovered that traffickers in Malaysia housed as many as 78 pregnant Indonesian women.

The team also gathered video evidence of doctors who openly offer to help get falsified birth documents for babies who have been bought, with the help of officials working in the government’s National Registration Department.

The high demand for babies has led some sex workers to sell their babies instead of having abortions if they get pregnant, the 101 East team noted.

“While some children may end up in good homes, others may be groomed for paedophile rings or exploited by begging syndicates,” it added.

Chan said the lack of proper checks on the buyers and whether they make good parents meant the best interests of the child are never considered in such transactions.