A cash-strapped couple sold their twin babies to separate families for £13,500.
The husband and wife, surnamed Lan and Feng, pawned off their son and daughter just two months after they were born in September 2017.
Authorities in Chifeng City, China, said they were notified about the illegal sale more than a year later in December 2018.
Investigators tracked Lan and detained him on January 22 this year.
Both Lan and his wife were brought in for questioning where they admitted to selling their children in order to pay off their debts.
“We owed too much money,” Lan said, adding: “After my wife gave birth, she couldn’t work any more. We had no cash and couldn’t borrow more either.”
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According to the police, Lan and Feng found prospective buyers through the social networking app Qzone.
In November 2017, both their son and daughter were separated and sold to two families in the cities of Xingtai and Langfang in Hebei Province, China.
The children were purchased for £6,760 each.
Both have since been rescued and returned to their relatives.
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Yuanbaoshan People’s Procuratorate says it had charged Lan as well as buyers Chen and Zhang on February 22 for illegally purchasing the twins.
Feng and Chen’s wife, Liu, were not charged due to “repentant behaviour”.
Feng said: “We were desperate.”
She added: “We knew it was wrong, but at least our children didn’t have to suffer with us.”
