CHINA. GANG CHIEFS GET DEATH FOR SELLING 82 CHILDREN

a Fujian Province court, China, handed down death sentences to the leaders of two gangs that bought more than 80 children from their parents and sold them in Singapore.
The rings were based in the province's Anxi County, from which 800,000 natives had moved overseas, one-fourth of them to Singapore.
All the children were smuggled to Singapore on tourist visas. Three were sent back to China later because the buyers were dissatisfied with their physical conditions.
The latest ruling involved defendant Ke Jianxin. In addition to being given the death penalty, the Quanzhou Intermediate People's Court also confiscated all of Ke's property.
Ke's ring smuggled 38 children to Singapore from 1995 to 2002, according to testimony. It bought 32 children - including 28 girls - from their parents. The sources for other six were unclear, the court heard.
Ke collaborated with his cousin, a Singaporean citizen, in the trade, the newspaper said. His cousin ordered children by gender and age, and Ke would locate the victims and take them to a hospital for a medical check.
Ke would pay 7,000 yuan (US$864) to 9,000 yuan for a girl and 12,000 yuan to 15,000 yuan for a boy, the court heard. His cousin then gave him 3,000 Singaporean dollars (US$1,820) for a girl and S$5,000 for a boy. The court imprisoned ring member Yan Xiuchuan for life and confiscated Yan's property. Another member, Ke Jianglong, was jailed for 11 years. Ke's wife, Cheng Xiaoying, was awaiting trial for her role in the human trafficking, according to the newspaper.
The leader of another ring, Ke Pengjie, 30, was sentenced to death on August 5 for selling 44 children to Singapore for five years through 2003, reported Fujian's Strait News. Ke Pengjie bought victims at 5,000 yuan to 15,000 yuan and sold them to Singapore for at least S$8,000 each. None of the parents who sold their children to the gangs were prosecuted.