A court in southern China convicted 52 people of selling infants on the black market, sentencing six to death and five to life in prison, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.
The group was accused of trafficking 118 babies and was involved in two high-profile cases in March 2003 in which 28 baby girls were discovered in travel bags on a bus and 13 other babies were found being smuggled in the southern region of Guangxi.
Ring leaders Xie Deming and Cui Wenxian were sentenced to death on Friday, four others got suspended death sentences and five of the traffickers were given life in prison, Xinhua said on its Web site, www.xinhuanet.com.
The remaining were given jail sentences of varying lengths.
Police said this was the biggest baby trafficking case in Communist China's 55 years history, Xinhua said.
The sale of women and children has become a nation-wide problem in China, where stringent rules on family planning allow couples to have just one child, at least in the cities, and limit numbers elsewhere.
The restrictions have bolstered a traditional bias for male offspring, seen as the mainstay for aging parents and has resulted in abortions or killings of baby girls.
Earlier this month, the northern region of Inner Mongolia arrested 95 people for the trafficking of 76 babies. On Saturday, state television said the number of people detained was 102.
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