One of the leaders of a gang accused of selling 118 babies between 2002 and 2003 was detained recently, the Beijing Times reported yesterday.

Ji Xiulan, of Yongcheng in Henan Province, was captured by police on June 8 at her wheat farm after several years on the run.

It marked another step forward for police in tracking down the gang. Files on the captured woman were handed to Guangxi police late last week.

Ji and her family are accused of being behind a notorious baby-trafficking ring that operated across several provinces between 2002 and 2003.

Her son Liu Yujie and daughter-in-law were arrested in 2003 when the scandal first surfaced. But Ji and her husband evaded capture and have been at large for the past four years.

Police said the family was behind the largest-ever baby trafficking ring, in terms of the number of babies sold, since the formation of the People's Republic of China.

The family is alleged to have trafficked baby girls from south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to Henan and Hubei in central China and neighboring Anhui Province, Henan police were quoted as saying.

In 2003, in Guangxi, 52 people were named as being involved in the trafficking operation, six of whom were sentenced to death at a local court.

Of the 118 babies, the eldest was three months old, with the youngest just two days, the Yulin Intermediate People's Court said.

Families of the babies were paid only a few dollars for the infants who were later sold for between 1,000 and 2,000 yuan (US$130-260).

Police said Ji's husband remains at large.

(China Daily June 20, 2007)