http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030322/1/399ul.html
Police in southwestern China discovered 28 baby girls hidden in suitcases on a long-distance bus and apparently destined to be sold, police and a state-run newspaper said. One of the babies had died by the time police, acting on a tip-off, found them Tuesday night on the bus at a highway toll gate in Bingyang, Guangxi province, the Beijing Morning News said. Police at the Bingyang police station confirmed the case and told AFP more than 20 suspects had been arrested. "The babies are fine. More than 20 people have been arrested," one police officer said, refusing to comment further. Another officer said the youngest babies were only a few days old. "They had been on the bus for four or five hours before they were found," he said. The oldest baby was no more than three months old, the newspaper reported. Some of the infants were two or three to a suitcase. The nylon suitcases were stacked on the luggage rack, the back row of seats and along the sides of the bus. The babies appeared to have been drugged to keep them from crying and being found. Police officers recounted their disbelief when they found one baby after another on the bus. "After I found three to four infants, I felt shocked," one officer told the newspaper. Police said they did not know where the babies came from and where they were headed. The bus was travelling from Yulin city in the poverty-stricken Guangxi province to central China's similarly poor Anhui province. The 27 surviving babies were in stable condition. The cheeks of some of them had turned purplish as temperatures had dropped on the bus during the night. The infants are being kept at the Minorities Weisheng School in nearby Nanlin district, one of the police officers told AFP. "Nurses are taking care of them. The local government has set aside money to care for the infants. Local residents are taking milk powder to the school for the babies," he said. Most of the infants were a few months old and some had been kept in large leather bags near the passengers, he said. Those who were arrested included passengers on the bus, the officer said. "Most of the people arrested were middle-aged women from Bingyang. They probably wanted to make some money. They might have been headed for Guangdong," he said. Police are seeking other suspects. "They haven't arrested all of them yet," he said. So far no one had claimed the infants. "It's possible the parents gave the babies away. Family planning policy is very strict and they probably had exceeded their birth limit and wanted to give the babies away to avoid fines," the officer said. "Perhaps some of them were born to unwed mothers or migrant workers." Child and female trafficking is a serious problem in China with cases regularly reported in Chinese newspapers. Children are sold to families who lack children or want more, while older girls or women are sold as brides to poor farmers. A report issued by UNICEF in 2001 said more than a quarter of a million women and children have been victims of trafficking in China in recent decades. xponent China Doll Maru rob Workings of man Set to ply out historical life Reregaining the flower of the fruit of his tree All awakening All restoring you Workings of man Crying out from the fire set aflame By his blindness to see that the warmth of his being Is promised for his seeing his reaching so clearly Workings of man Driven far from the path Rereleased in inhibitions So that all is left for you all is left for you all is left for you all this left for you NOW... _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
