SANTIAGO, June 3, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A Chilean judge on Monday ordered the detention of five people, including a former judge now living in Israel, over the trafficking of thousands of children stolen and sold abroad, mainly during the country's military dictatorship.

Some 20,000 minors were given to families abroad by doctors, social workers or judges who in many cases manipulated poor women into giving up their children shortly after birth, according to a judicial investigation.

The majority of cases occurred during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet from 1973 to 1990.

Alejandro Aguilar, the judge heading the investigation, on Monday ordered the provisional detention of five suspects, including former judge Ivonne Gutierrez, who now lives in Israel and will be the subject of an extradition request.

An extradition treaty between the two countries entered into force on Sunday.

Gutierrez stands accused of crimes including child abduction and intentional misconduct in the irregular adoption of two minors from San Fernando, south of Santiago, by parents in the United States in 1983.

According to the decades-old investigation, a criminal organization comprised of a judge, lawyers, a priest, members of social organizations and health personnel operated in San Fernando at the time.

Its goal was "to remove or steal children for profit" and "have them sent out of the country," according to Aguilar's ruling Monday.

The children were sent to "various destinations in Europe and the United States," and their adoptive families paid approximately $50,000 dollars at the time.