A German couple offered their eight-month-old son for sale on internet auction site eBay and said it's just a joke, but police are investigating the case, media reported Monday.
A number of people called authorities across Germany after seeing the offer on eBay that read: "Baby -- collection only. Offer my nearly new baby for sale because it cries too much. Male, 70 cm long."
The opening bid was 1 euro ($1.57). There were no bidders during the two hours before the offer was removed, police said.
Renee Beck, a police spokesman in the Bavarian town of Krumbach west of Munich, said on Saturday the 23-year-old woman told them it was only a joke.
But he said police were nevertheless continuing their investigation and the baby was put in state custody.
The mother was quoted in Bild newspaper saying: "It was only a joke. I just wanted to see if someone would make an offer. They've taken my son to hospital and I've got to take psychiatric tests next week."
译文:
德国夫妇在eBay以1欧元起价拍卖8个月儿子
据媒体周一报道，一对德国夫妇在知名网上拍卖网站eBay出售他们8个月的儿子，并称之只是玩笑，不过警方正对这一事展开调查。
据悉，这对夫妇在eBay德国网站上发布的幼儿拍卖信息为：“婴孩——自己取货。将我不久前出生的孩子出售，原因是非常哭闹。男婴，身长73厘米。”很多德国网民看到这条拍卖信息后，立即向德国警方报案。
警方表示，这对德国夫妇对其孩子的起始拍卖价为1欧元(约合1.57美元)，但并没有人参与竞拍，原因是该拍卖信息已于发布后两小时内被删除。
德国巴伐利亚州克龙巴赫(Krumbach)市警方发言人雷尼·贝克(Renee Beck)表示，这对德国夫妇确实在eBay上出售他们的儿子，但这位23岁的孩子母亲在接受警方讯问时称，她只是恶作剧，而不是真的要拍卖孩子。
尽管如此，德国警方仍在就此展开调查，这名孩子也已交由警方指定的医院监护。
克龙巴赫市当地媒体援引这位母亲的话称：“我在eBay上拍卖儿子只是开玩笑，只是想看看是否有人会参与竞拍。他们(指警方)把我的儿子带到医院去了，并让我下周进行精神病心理测试。”