Chinese couple on trial for ‘buying boy to carry on family line’
Husband and wife among 10 suspects on trial in child-trafficking case
A couple have gone on trial in southern China accused of buying an infant boy from child traffickers, according to state media.
The couple, from Shantou in Guangdong province, were arrested after paying 92,000 yuan (US$14,200) to a trafficker in rural Fengxun county in November, Meizhou Radio and Television reported on Friday.
The couple told the Fengxun County People’s Court that they had asked repeatedly about the child’s origins but were assured the child was not trafficked.
They said they met the child’s “mother” and both sides signed an “adoption agreement” after the couple paid the money to cover “food and nutrition” costs, the report said.
Police arrested the couple as they headed home with the weeks-old infant.
The couple already had seven daughters and wanted a son to carry on the family line, the report said.
Police said the child was born in Yunnan and sold to a child trafficker surnamed Peng who passed the boy on to another trafficker identified only as Wu.
Wu then offered the child to several potential buyers before finally selling him to the Shantou couple for a profit of roughly 70,000 yuan, the court was told.
Eight other suspects were also on trial, the report said.
The court has yet to deliver a verdict in the case.
