A Chinese court in the eastern Fujian Province sentenced two people to death Monday for abducting and trafficking children.

Li Diji and Wu Suiqing were given death sentences by the Intermediate People's Court of Quanzhou City in Fujian. They were also deprived of their political rights for life and had their personal properties confiscated, according to a court statement.

The criminal organization, including the two people and 11 others, sold 46 abducted male infants aged below one year to buyers in rural areas in Anxi County and Yongchun County in Quanzhou from 2007 to 2009, charging 30,000 to 40,000 yuan (US$4,482 to US$5,976) per infant, said the statement.

The court convicted Li and Wu of participating in the abduction and trafficking of 23 and 17 infants, respectively.

Li and Wu, both natives of Anxi County, were born in 1954.

The police in Anxi rescued the abducted infants who came from Sichuan Province, Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, but have not found their parents.

Eleven of their accomplices received varying sentences for purchasing abducted infants, trafficking them or harboring the traffickers, the statement said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2010)