All seven members of a child trafficking gang have been detained and 11 boys aged 3 to 9 have been rescued, local police said on Thursday.

Four other boys were still missing, they said, and the investigation was continuing.

Police captured the suspects, three from Sichuan Province and four from Fujian Province, after an investigation that began in August, according to the Public Security Bureau of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan in southwest China.

Three members were captured in Sichuan in September and four in Fujian last month.

The gang members confessed that they captured the Sichuan boys on the street by enticing them with food and sold them to two traffickers in Fujian for up to 30,000 yuan (US$4,386) each between 2005-2008.

All 11 boys were in good health and had been sent home.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2009)