Each year, some 2,000 babies go up for adoption at a cost of up to $30,000 each.

But demand in the West has spawned a lucrative business for a handful of corrupt local lawyers who go as far as stealing babies for sale.

The attorney-general, Carlos Garcia Regas, says the government is now planning to tighten adoption procedures.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund, the industry is dominated by a small network of lawyers who make $15 million a year.

Guatemala is the fourth biggest source for foreign adoptions by United States couples, after Russia, China and South Korea.

Many babies also go to couples from Europe and Israel who capitalise on the country's lax laws.

But critics say some corrupt lawyers are now farming babies, paying for them or even stealing them.

Fears over unwanted babies

The attorney-general said he was enormously worried about the baby trade and would ask Congress to temporarily suspend international adoptions from early next year.

That would give legislators time to tighten procedures, bringing them into line with the rest of Central America.