Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Baby Trafficker Caught

Police arrest woman linked to China baby trafficking
A woman in China suspected of being involved in the trafficking of 118 baby girls has been arrested after four years on the run, state press reported Tuesday.

Ji Xiulan, believed to be aged in her 60s, had been a fugitive since the trafficking ring was busted in 2003 but was arrested in a village in central China's Henan province on June 15, the Beijing Times reported.

Ji was suspected of having been involved in buying trafficked babies from southern China's Guangxi region, the report said.

The 2003 arrest of the ringleaders of the gang exposed a network of trafficking in baby girls that spread from Guangxi to Henan, Anhui and Hubei provinces in central and eastern China, the report said.

The case broke when police found 28 drugged and tied-up baby girls -- none over three months old -- in bags on board a bus bound for northern cities. One of the babies died while being smuggled, reports at the time said.

In July 2004, 54 people from Yulin city in Guangxi region were convicted of trafficking 118 girls between 2001 and 2003.

Two people from Yulin were sentenced to death over that case and more than 100 outside Guangxi were convicted, of whom at least one was executed, state press reports at the time said.

The case has been linked to China's "one child" family planning policy that has sharpened traditional values preferring boys over girls and leading to many mothers selling or giving away their baby daughters in the hopes of later having a son.

Many defendants in the case refused to admit wrongdoing, insisting they were providing a humanitarian service as many of the trafficked girls went to childless couples in cities, earlier press reports on the scandal said.

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