SHENZHEN police had rescued 17 children and two women who had been abducted and sold last year and caught 23 suspects, the city s public security bureau said Monday.
The city reported 19 cases of children and women being kidnapped and sold last year, yesterday s Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
The remaining two cases were still being investigated, police said.
Most of the children were abducted from urban villages, markets and shopping centers and most of their parents were migrant workers who were busy working and had little time to look after their children, said bureau spokesman Deng Guangsheng.
About 30 percent of the cases involved children being sold by their parents. Most of these parents sold their children because they could not afford to raise them and some were single mothers, Deng said. It is against the law for anyone, even parents, to sell children.
Anyone convicted of kidnapping and selling children faces prison terms ranging from five to 10 years.
Relevant departments should pay more attention to young migrant couples and teach them how to care for babies correctly, Deng said.
Meanwhile, police also helped find 125 children who were reported missing last year and collected information and DNA specimens of children selling flowers, begging or cleaning cars on the street. The information would be used to find missing children throughout the country.
(Wang Yuanyuan)
