Authorities detain seven in Xiangyang for colluding with child traffickers

Seven people, including the president of a hospital in Xiangyang, Hubei province, have been detained after the hospital allegedly colluded with agencies to sell birth certificates to help register trafficked children and prevent them from being detected, Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

The case was first exposed by a netizen on the microblogging platform Weibo who went undercover at the hospital for a year.

Local police officers said during an interview with Xinhua News Agency that they began probing the case Monday evening and have completed the initial phase of obtaining relevant information and putting relevant personnel under control.

They are now expediting efforts in launching further investigations, collecting and verifying evidence.

A special task force comprising municipal-level and district-level public security officials has been set up, they added.