“Penniless and heavily in debt”: Chinese mother sells twin babies to cover bills
A single mother only known as Ma sold off her newborn twin boys in September last year for 65,000 yuan (NZD$ $14,363).
The sale was only discovered by local police recently as they were investigating another case.
Ma, who is in her 20s and hails from Zhejiang province, claimed that she did it because she was "penniless and heavily in debt".
Ma is also claiming that her parents refused to help her as they were angry about the premarital pregnancy.
The father of the twins, known as Wu has reportedly refused to be responsible for the babies, according to Asia One.
He only resurfaced after he discovered that Ma received money for the sale of the twins and wanted his debts to be settled.
Ma split the proceeds with Wu and used her share to pay off her credit card debts as well as purchase a new mobile phone.
By the time the police arrested the pair, the money had all been spent.
The police have uncovered who Ma sold the twin boys to and has returned them to Ma’s parents.
Photo credit: Weibo/dskbhz