Hanoi police arrested two women on August 3 for allegedly selling a nine-month-old baby from Bo De Pagoda, a home for orphaned and abandoned children in Long Bien District, according to Phu Nu (Women) Newspaper.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Trang.

One of the detainees is Nguyen Thi Thanh Trang, 37, the caretaker of the children supported by the pagoda, and the other is Pham Thi Nguyet, 35, a woman from northern Ninh Binh Province.

The women have been charged with "trading in, fraudulently exchanging or appropriating children", the newspaper said.

Three others have been questioned over the same allegation.

According to the newspaper report, the boy was found in front of the pagoda in 2013. A couple who often visited the pagoda agreed to be godparents to the boy and named him Cu Nguyen Cong. Then he disappeared in 2014.

Investigations show that Trang and Nguyet sold Cong for VND35 million (US$1,650), the newspaper said.

A Hanoi Police officer said a person called Trang had been arrested but he could not confirm the reason for the arrest.

Hanoi Police will provide detailed information regarding the case in an upcoming press conference, he said.