Guangdong police have rescued 14 infants after they busted four human trafficking gangs and found all the children were sold by their parents for money.

Another infant died before the police operation was launched on Oct 16, the Guangdong provincial department of public security said on Tuesday.

One infant boy has returned home while the others are still at a welfare house in the city of Huizhou, about 110 km from Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

The infants are between 4 to 22 months old.

Most of the victims were sold by their parents in Wenshan, Yunnan province, to Guangdong province through intermediaries for prices ranging from 10,000 yuan ($1,590) to 35,000 yuan each, police said.

Three of the victims' fathers have been detained for further investigation, while 27 suspects were arrested during operations launched in the Guangdong cities of Huizhou, Meizhou, Heyuan, Shanwei, Dongguan and Jiangmen at the same time late last year.

Meanwhile, a major channel used to abduct and sell infants and children from China's poor southwest Chinese region to Guangdong province and a big criminal network were destroyed, police said.

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