China executes man for abducting, trafficking 22 infants

Beijing: China has executed a 69-year-old man who abducted and trafficked 22 infants, state media reported on Friday.

Tan Yongzhi was executed by a local court in the country's central Henan province, state-run xinhua news agency reported without providing the exact date.

Tan, who bought a boy for more than USD 4,500, argued during the trial that he was "doing good" for those who wanted a baby, according to media reports.

"I was helping others and just acted as a go-between," Tan was quoted as saying in an earlier report by the Zhengzhou Evening Newspaper.

The report said Tan bought a boy for more than 30,000 yuan (USD 4,580) and a girl at about 16,000 yuan. He then sold the kids for 1,000 to 3,000 yuan higher than what he paid.

Tan was given a death sentence in 2014.

Following the order issued by the president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court executed Tan, the report quoted a statement of the SPC as saying.

From February 2008 to April 2013, Tan, along with two accomplices, "bought" the infants in southwest China's Yunnan province, transported them to Henan and sold them, the statement said.

Four others involved in the crime chain have also received sentences. The parents of the 22 infants have not been reached so far.

China has intensified crackdown on trafficking of women and children. The country sentenced 1,362 people with the crime in 2015, a drop of 50 per cent from 2012, according to the SPC.