Child kidnapping ring smashed

Police in Guizhou, in southwest China, have broken up a kidnapping ring which they say snatched children from their homes then sold them to other families.

Forty-five gang members have been arrested and accused of abducting 25 children, most between July and October last year. Most of the children were taken from the provincial capital, Guiyang, and the city of Anshun. They were allegedly sold to people in Hebei and Henan.

Most of the children believed to have been kidnapped have been recovered.

Of those found, eight were returned to their families after DNA testing, while 17 remained unidentified, according to a Guizhou police spokesman.

The gang, allegedly led by Hu Qijia, Tong Laifen, Wu Hualin and Li Peifang, began kidnapping children last March, police said.

An officer from the provincial Public Security Bureau said the children were often seized from their homes by the armed kidnappers, or abducted from the street or in downtown areas.