Chinese gang offers babies for sale on WeChat for US$9,000; six suspects arrested, police say
Investigation launched after newspaper report accuses group of trafficking infants from central China hospitals
Claims that a newborn baby boy was offered for sale for 60,000 yuan (US$9,200) on social media has led to six people being arrested in central China, according to a police statement.
An investigative report by Xiaoxiang Morning Post was the first to point the finger at a group based in the city of Yiyang, Hunan province, which it accused of running a human trafficking operation via the popular messaging platform WeChat.
According to the newspaper article, which was published on Thursday, the group posted a message in mid-June that offered “a newborn, healthy boy” for sale. Anyone interested in buying him should “please come to Hunan, Yiyang quickly”.
The post was accompanied by two videos of the infant and information about his parents, who “felt unable to raise a second child”, the report said.
The police statement said: “Multiple media outlets and an unnamed individual reported that infants were being trafficked from a hospital in Yiyang on June 21, and the department arrested three suspects at the scene.”
