A man has been arrested for selling his baby daughter online for £6,800 to pay off his gambling debts.
The father named only as Jiang, sold the one-year-old baby to a couple after racking up debts of more than 60,000 Yuan (£6,798), according to reports in China.
Jiang lied to his wife that his daughter needed to stay with his mother. He then flew the child more than 1,150 miles away from their home in Guiyang, Guizhou province, last November.
But his wife, named Wang, grew concerned after he didn’t return after three months and repeatedly postponed their return.
In February, she checked her husband’s phone and found chilling conversations between him and her daughter’s buyers.
The distressed mum then met with her husband’s mother in Zunyi city, about 87 miles away, who informed her that her son and granddaughter left her weeks ago.
She immediately contacted police who eventually tracked Jiang down to a hotel in Guiyang last month.
When caught, Jiang admitted owing a huge gambling debt and decided to take the drastic measure after seeing ads for child adoption. Jiang lied to the buyers – a couple in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province – by telling them he was a single father who could no longer afford to care for the girl. He even claimed his own parents were dead so he had nowhere else to turn.
Thankfully, the child was located by cops last Friday and reunited with her mum.
Jiang has been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking, according to cops.