Guangdong police Wednesday announced they have smashed the biggest child trafficking ring ever uncovered in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, rescuing nine children.

Six suspects, including a woman, have been detained.

According to the police, the 47-year-old prime suspect, surnamed Xu, is a resident of Chaoyang in eastern Guangdong Province of south China.

The gang is alleged to have abducted and sold more than 10 children since the beginning of the year. Most of the children were only three to four years old.

They sold for between 1,000 yuan (US$120) and 8,000 yuan (US$963) each.

Li Feng, director of Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Public Security, said most of the children came from families of transient workers in Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong. They were then sold to farmers in Shantou, Shanwei, Chaozhou, Jieyang and Puning cities in eastern Guangdong Province, Li said.

Some of the children had changed hands more than twice before they were rescued by police.

Six of the abductees have been identified via DNA tests and were returned to their parents in Shenzhen Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference Wednesday, Li said the crackdown had dealt a heavy blow to criminals abducting and selling children. Such gangs used to be active in Guangdong Province.

Li said his bureau immediately established a special task force when they received a report that a four-year-old boy was missing in Shenzhen's Luohu District on September 9. Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security also set up a special group headed by Liu Ancheng, director of the Bureau's Criminal Investigation Department to help coordinate and handle the case.

After 40 days of investigation, police identified several suspects and detained them in Shenzhen.

(China Daily November 13, 2003)