Two desperate gamblers who turned to child trafficking after losing all their money were among a gang of seven who appeared at Haidian district court on Wednesday.

Seven child traffickers stand at Haidian district court on Wednesday. They each face sentences of five to 10 years.

Chen Yongjun and Liu Honggang, both 41, snatched at least one child in January 2010 before selling him to buyers in Hebei province.

On Jan 19, the duo, who were broke because of gambling, contacted accomplice Ji Mingyu about the chance of making extra cash by trafficking children. Shortly after, they kidnapped 2-year-old Peng Jinchuan on a street in Haidian.

The court heard that Chen, an ice cream delivery man, had already served two sentences for trafficking women from 1991 to 2000.

"First I picked up a little girl in the street, but Chen told me to put her down because a little girl is worth less money," Liu told the court, explaining that he was responsible for the abductions, while Chen took care of the sale.

Liu said he then noticed Peng. He covered the boy with a coat and put him on Chen's tricycle and fled, later selling the tricycle for a ticket on an illegal minibus to Hebei that night.

The boy's parents reported him missing 30 minutes later, prompting police to identify the two suspects with the help of closed-circuit television.

However, Peng was still handed over to Ji, who contacted local go-between Wang Zhi. Within a short time, the toddler was sold to an elderly couple in a nearby village for 38,000 yuan. Wang is said to have lied to the couple that Peng was an illegitimate child.

"The couple bought the boy for their son and his wife as they can't have baby," said Haidian prosecutor Wang Chenghao in court.

Wang Zhi, 50, who served five years in jail for trafficking children in 1999, was also found involved in two similar cases.

The farmer previously helped Zhou Jinglan, Yang Lancheng and Wang Chaogui sell a baby from Southwest China's Yunnan province for 43,000 yuan on Jan 7, 2010. He also helped Jiang Yongxiang and her daughter Han Wenqin sell a 20-day-old boy on Jan 26 for 22,000 yuan in Yunnan.

"I earned no money from the trafficking I was jailed for, that's why I returned to the business," said the father of two, who made about 10,000 yuan from trafficking before his capture in January last year.

Peng was eventually returned to his family, while two other babies are still in the State custody as their parents are yet to be found.

Prosecutors suggested a sentence of at least 10 years for Wang for his part in trafficking three children. The other five offenders, including Liu and Chen, face between five and 10 years. Sentencing is pending.