A young Chinese couple are facing many
years in jail after allegedly selling their baby daughter to raise money for an
iPhone and other luxury goods. The couple, identified only as Miss Zhang and Mr
Teng, are said to have placed anonymous advertisements in newspapers suggesting
they would be willing to part with their baby - unborn at that stage - in
exchange for 50,000 yuan (about £5,000).
Police in Shanghai have charged the couple with human
trafficking after accepting money for the baby, who was born at home and still
only weeks, or months old, when sold. Having received the money, which was
deposited in their bank account, the couple went out on a spending spree, using
part of the proceeds to buy an iPhone, State media reported today.
The unemployed couple, who have two other children, were
also accused of using the money to purchase a number of luxury goods. They are
understood to have told prosecutors that they were acting in their daughter's
best interests, claiming they had hoped to find a home for her with a
financially stable family who would be able to provide her with an eduction.
'We did not give the baby away for
money but in order to give it more security,' Shanghai's Jiefang Daily
newspaper reported them as telling officials.
But prosecutors said they believed the
couple's bank records show they had hatched a 'sinister conspiracy' to profit
from the sale of the baby.
One credit card bill is said to show
that immediately after trading the child, the couple spent large amounts of
money on the internet, including buying an iPhone and a pair of expensive
trainers.
In an attempt to hide that they were
behind the sale of a child, the couple tried to conceal the fact that Miss
Zhang was pregnant and she had even gone to the length of giving birth at home.
They are said to have told neighbours
that the baby bump during Miss Zhang's pregnancy was a tumour.
IPhones are a sought-after commodity in
China and only last year seven people were jailed in Hunan province for their
role in the purchase of a kidney from a teenage boy, who used the money to buy
an iPhone and an iPad.
Source: DailyMailUK
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