China police detain woman for selling 118 babies

BEIJING, June 19 (Reuters) Police in central China have detained a woman who was being sought for more than four years in connection with the sale of dozens of babies across the country, state media reported today.

Authorities said Ji Xiulan, of Yongcheng city in Henan province, sold 118 babies with the help of her husband, her son Liu Yujie and his wife in 2003, the Shanghai Daily reported, citing a local newspaper.

The family bought baby girls in the southern region of Guangxi and sold babies in Henan, Hubei and Anhui provinces, the Shanghai paper said.

The case came to light on March 30, 2003, when the family brought 13 babies to Henan by taxi, the paper said.

''The cab broke down and they left four babies in a field nearby and went to a garage for repairs,'' it said. Residents later found the babies and alerted authorities.

Liu and his wife were later arrested, but Ji evaded authorities until June 8, when a police chief on patrol in Yongcheng city spotted her in a wheat field near her house. The report did not say whether Ji's husband was also in custody.

Guangxi police cited rural poverty and a traditional preference for boys as the main reasons why ''less fortunate'' people might sell their babies, according to the Shanghai Daily.

The report follows the discovery earlier in the month of five newborn babies who had been abandoned in the back of a stolen car in the country's northeastern Hebei province.

REUTERS RJ RK1101