WUNRN
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/14/china/china-child-trafficking-bust/
Website Link Includes Videos.
CHINA –POLICE BREAK UP BABY & CHILD TRAFFICKING RING – HIGHER SALE PRICES FOR BOYS!
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Police rescued 37 babies and a 3-year-old girl in a trafficking
ring bust in China, reported CCTV
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Pregnant women were transported to an abandoned factory to give
birth before infants were sold
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Newborn babies were sold for up to $12,912, with boys fetching
higher prices than girls
(CNN)Police
rescued 37 babies and a 3-year-old girl after busting a child trafficking ring
in eastern China's Shandong province, reported the state-run China Central
Television.
The newborn babies, many
suffering from HIV/AIDS and malnutrition, were sold for between 50,000 yuan to
80,000 yuan ($8,000 to $12,912 dollars). The boys fetched higher prices than
girls, according to the online video report published on Tuesday.
Babies were often transported
in large handbags and suitcases to prospective buyers. And they were allegedly
fed instant noodles and leftover vegetables, according to Chinese state media.
Authorities have arrested 103
people, suspected of trafficking or purchasing the infants.
Doctor admits stealing,
selling babies
Police spotted a suspicious
group of pregnant women being ushered into an abandoned factory in the city of
Jining, last July, where they found baby diapers and other evidence of it being
used as an "underground delivery room."
"We noticed there has
been some new developments in the methods for child trafficking related
crimes," Chen Shiqu, director of the Ministry of Public Security's
Anti-trafficking Office told CCTV.
"For example, some
criminal gangs would send pregnant women who are about to give birth via public
transport to another city. The babies are then sold after the women give
birth," says Chen.
Squalid conditions
An investigator who was on
the case said they detained seven suspects and found one baby nearly smothered
under blankets in the run-down factory with squalid living conditions.
"At that time, the
baby's face was already turning purple, if we didn't search through those
blankets, that baby may have already died," said Liu Yang, a police
investigator.
Baby trafficking tip of
iceberg
Insert – NY Times & Associated Press –
December 24, 2014 - Chinese authorities have tried to show they're tackling the
problem, including launching a special anti-kidnapping task force in 2009,
which government media say has busted 11,000 trafficking gangs and rescued more
than 54,000 children across the country. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/12/27/world/asia/ap-as-china-abducted-children.html?_r=0
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In a two-month sting
operation following the raid, police discovered that the babies were often
transported from the factory in bags to a hospital for infectious diseases in a
nearby suburb where they were kept, awaiting buyers.
"Out of the 37 babies we
rescued, almost none of them were healthy. All had varying levels of some
sickness. They let the babies eat instant noodles," said Hou Jun, a local
police officer.
One of the buyers, Liu Zhiyou
said an agent told him it was an illegitimate child from a student.
Some of the babies have
remained with their adoptive parents, while others are in orphanages. The
3-year-old was reunited with her mother, according to Chinese media.
According to Chinese law,
child traffickers can be imprisoned up to 10 years for selling more than three
children or sentenced to death in more serious cases.
Major concern
Child trafficking has become
a major concern in China, as traffickers seek to profit off a growing demand
for healthy babies from potential adoptive parents both in China and beyond.
In March last year, Chinese
officials uncovered four child-trafficking rings and arrested
more than a thousand people for using websites and instant messaging groups to
sell babies.
A Chinese obstetrician was
also convicted for selling babies after
telling their parents they were sick in early 2014.