Five Bulgarians - four women and a man - were detained in a northern Greek city in suspicion of partaking in a baby trafficking ring.

All four women are pregnant, Greek police said, and were locked in a dismal outhouse in Lamia, some 226 km north of Athens.

A 35-year-old-man was arrested on Saturday after police raided an apartment where four pregnant women were being kept in filthy conditions.

The illegal network was set up by two brothers from Bulgaria who used to fetch poor pregnant women to give birth in Greece. Then they sold the new-borns at approximately EUR 3,000 each.

All four women are hospitalized, police said as cited by ANA news agency.

The gang is believed to then sell the infants to local families through a well-organized network.

A search operation has been launched for another man and woman in Lamia. However, police believe the whole operation to be much larger.

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