Police bust child trafficking ring in southeast China

Police in southeast China's Fuzhou city have nabbed 13 suspects involved in a cross-province child trafficking case, with seven children rescued, local authorities said Monday.

Police in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province, detained a woman suspected of abducting a child at a local coach station in July after being tipped off, according to Chen Minxiu, spokesman with Fuzhou's public security bureau.

The suspect, surnamed Ye, confessed that she had long bought babies and then sold them at much higher prices, the bureau said. Police later found a human trafficking group Ye was involved in and detained 12 others.

An initial investigation found that the group had "bought" seven children from Yunnan, Guangxi and Fujian since 2013 and sold them in Nanping City, Fujian Province, the bureau added.

Of the 13 suspects, five, including Ye, have been officially arrested, while the rest are awaiting trial on bail. The abducted children have been sent to Fuzhou Social Welfare Institute.

China has reported many cases of human trafficking in recent years. In March 2013, Chinese police rescued 92 children and two women while seizing 301 suspects as part of a campaign against an "outsized" human trafficking network.