Twins Sold on Internet in Transatlantic Tug of War
L O N D O N, Jan. 16 -- Twin girls, born six months ago in the United States and sold over the Internet — twice — have become the objects of a trans-Atlantic tug of war.
The babies were bought by an American couple who raised them for two months before they were resold by their natural mother for twice the original price to a couple from Wales.
The British couple, Alan and Judith Kilshaw, have vowed to keep the babies despite allegations that they kidnapped the babies and took them out of the United States. illegally.
"We feel the girls will have a better life in Britain," Alan Kilshaw told Britain's GMTV television.
Snatched Back by Birth Mom
The twins were advertised on the Internet by a broker who runs a Web site called Caring Heart Adoption. Californians Richard and Vickie Allen paid $6,000 for the twins, originally named Kiara and Keyara.
They raised the babies for two months and were in the process of legalizing the adoption when the birth mother asked to see the twins for a "final farewell."
The Allens claim the twins were snatched back by their biological mother, Tranda Wecker of St Louis, and the Internet adoption agency in order to be resold.
The Kilshaws claim they knew nothing of this until they arrived in California after paying the adoption agency $12,000 for the twins.
Cross-Country Chase
They were handed the twins in the San Diego hotel, then pursued by the Allens in a race across the United States to Arkansas, where adoption laws are more lax.
The Kilshaws then flew back to their farmhouse in north Wales with the girls.
Richard Allen, who has enlisted the FBI to help get the girls back to the United States, insists the law is on his side.
"We did everything legally in the state of California to start the adoption process," Allen said. "The [babies] were abducted from California, taken to Arkansas which had no jurisdiction, and then the Kilshaws paid everyone involved to take the children out of the country without any legal right."
