Reports of alleged baby snatch squads sparked outrage across the entire country.

Li Mo, a photographer for Caixin Century Magazine who took pictures of the alleged parent victims, told the Global Times he had rushed to finish his report fearing officials would intercept him and kill the story.

"Although the family-planning officials face many difficulties in enforcing the policy, that's no excuse for robbing villagers and taking their children," he said.

A baby-theft business model could be ranked as the cruelest in the world, commented ifeng.com columnist Xiaoshu. Authorities shouldn't exploit family-planning policies to maximize profits, he wrote.

"I'm really glad that this crime has finally been exposed by the media, thanks to the persistence of the parents of those so-called orphans," he wrote. "Justice will finally be served through strict legal procedures."

"This is not a singular case," Li Jianxin, a sociology professor at Peking University, told Caixin Online.

"Violations of laws in enforcing the family-planning law are not rare. The baby export case in Hunan is one extreme case."

It was time for government to finally loosen the one-child policy, Li argued. "Returning the right of birth to families would eventually eradicate cases of local family-planning officials abusing their powers for profit," he said.

He also urged the central government to reconsider the one-child policy with respect for the protection of human rights.

Foreigners who adopted Chinese children also joined in the chorus of domestic and international concern.

An adoptive mother of two Chinese children living in Shanghai who declined to reveal her name told the Global Times the scandal hurt the feelings of adoptive parents as they were unaware their babies might have been deliberately orphaned.