Cross-border traffickers get harsh sentences

The leader of a group that sold more than 20 Vietnamese infants in China was sentenced to death on Friday, sending a strong signal that China will crack down on cross-border human trafficking, authorities said.

The other 23 traffickers, of whom one is a Vietnamese citizen and eight others have supposed Vietnamese citizenship that has not been confirmed, received sentences ranging from one year and 10 months to life imprisonment, with confiscation of personal property or fines for the crime of trafficking children, according to a statement released by the intermediate court of Fangchenggang in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Friday.

The group sold 23 infants aged 10 days to several months to Chinese families starting in 2010 to July 2011.