Two of the 10 most-wanted human traffickers have been arrested in a nationwide campaign to crack down on rising cases of the crime, a senior official said yesterday.

Zhang Xinfeng, vice-minister of Public Security, also urged police officials to complete a DNA database for identification of abducted children and seek more help from the public.

The ministry launched a nationwide campaign between April 9 and May 4 to crack down on human trafficking; and on April 29, released a list of the 10 most-wanted suspects.

Wei Jiapei, a 28-year-old Shandong native, was one of those arrested. He and three accomplices kidnapped a one-year-old from a woman's arms on a street and then sold the boy in another city in the province.

According to the ministry, police authorities around the country rescued 196 children and 214 women during the campaign and destroyed 72 human trafficking rings.

Most of the crimes occurred in Guizhou, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shandong, Henan and Shanxi provinces.

In Jiangsu province, police rescuers found that six traffickers tortured a kidnapped woman and forced her into prostitution.

In another case in Shanxi, six women were lured with job offers and sold to farmers as "wives".

To identify child victims more quickly, the ministry has started compiling a nationwide DNA database by collecting blood samples from rescued children and parents who lost their children. 

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2009)