Couple arrested for allegedly selling newborn son in north China

A couple in north China's Shanxi Province has been arrested for allegedly selling their 5-day-old son for 37,000 yuan (US$5,112), Shanxi Evening News reported on Friday.

The wife, identified only as Yao, and her husband, Lang, from Jincheng City had one son earlier and wanted a daughter.

In June 2020, Yao gave birth to another boy in a Jincheng hospital. Through an unidentified middleman, they met Chang, who had long wanted to adopt a son, according to the newspaper report.

Five days after the birth, Chang paid the couple 37,000 yuan and took the child home.

Local police stumbled upon a clue to the child trafficking during their routine work in January this year.

The officers found that none of the people in Yao's vicinity had ever seen the newborn. They arrested the couple on March 27, the newspaper said.