News

Chinese authorities have rescued 89 trafficked children and arrested 369 suspects after uncovering two trafficking gangs.

A report by the People''s Daily posted on the Ministry of Public Security''s website on Wednesday said one operation was carried out on 20 July in 14 provinces.

The other operation was carried out on 15 July. A separate People''s Daily report says it resulted in the rescue of eight infants aged from 10 days to 7 months.

Authorities detained 39 people. At least four were Vietnamese.

Chinese state television also broadcast footage of police raiding a property and arresting women in a house in Guangdong Province on 15 July.

The infants were taken away by police and were being carefully monitored, CCTV reported.

Liu Ancheng, deputy director of the police criminal investigations bureau, said a Vietnamese woman was behind the child-trafficking ring, which he described as "very professional".

He said the women would smuggle babies across the border from Vietnam to China by crossing the Beilun River in a boat.

That sometimes meant they could hand over a baby without landing on Chinese soil, he said.

Liu also explained that the women communicated by flashlight.

"Instead of making phone calls, they used a small torchlight to signal to their fellow traffickers on the other side of the border to tell them they were handing over a baby," he said.

Local people use the Beilun River for transportation and to ship goods manufactured in China.

China''s thriving black market in children endures despite harsh penalties, including death.

Many babies are stolen but some are sold by their parents.