Seventeen members of a baby trafficking gang that kidnapped 50 children have been jailed for terms from three years to life imprisonment in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, according to a local court source Thursday.

The gang, all from Yunnan Province, kidnapped and sold 49 baby girls and one baby boy in 40 separate instances across the country from mid-2001 to mid-2002. One baby died in the process of being kidnapped.

All the members of the gang were convicted of child kidnapping and trafficking crimes at the Intermediate People's Court of Qujing City in a first-instance trial.

The gang's alleged ring leader, Luo Caifen, 35, of Xuanwei in Qujing City, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Luo was captured at Wuchang Railway Station in Wuhan City, capital of central China's Hubei Province, while taking two baby girls for sale to Henan Province with Wang Saisu, an accomplice.

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2003)