Police in Guangdong Province have failed to identify the parents of 10 baby boys rescued from a trafficking ring, because none of the parents had reported the infants missing, Guangzhou Daily said Sunday.

Police attempted to find the parents' DNA on a national database, but no matches have been found so far.

"We can make the match if a parent has reported a child missing and left a DNA sample with their local police station," a police officer with Guangdong's Shanwei City force told the newspaper.

In January, Shanwei police broke up a gang of 13 who were suspected of trafficking 26 infants from Yunnan Province in southwest China. Eleven of the children had been recovered by the police.

Lin Xiuxiang, a crucial link in the trafficking ring, admitted that he paid 315,000 yuan (US$47,400) for each baby he received, and sold them at 410,000 yuan.

The babies are now being temporarily fostered by local police officers' families or in buyers' families. One died of a blood disease.

While some babies are kidnapped or coaxed from families in remote areas, others are sold because of poverty and out of desperation.

Many couples who can't conceive want to raise a child, preferably a boy.

However, because of China's one child policy, few healthy baby boys end up in orphanages and available for adoption.

Adopting through traditional means can often be complex and expensive.

(Shanghai Daily October 18, 2010)