Person With False Identity Led Missing-Children Parents to Bathhouse

(Beijing) – Two leading petitioners for a child-trafficking case in Hunan Province arrested by the police on June 22 for prostitution were taken to the bathhouse providing illicit services by a man with a false identity.

On June 21, Yang Libing and Zhou Yinghe of Gaoping Town led a group of parents to file a petition regarding the case of the missing children in Shaoyang City. Later in the day, Yang and Zhou were contacted by a stranger who said his daughter was also abducted in 2003, one of the parents present at the scene told Caixin.

The stranger identified himself as Li Hongfu with an identity card, according to the source. Caixin later confirmed with local police that the identity card was forged.

Yang and Zhou stayed in Shaoyang with Li that night while other parents returned home, said the source.

The next morning, Li invited Yang and Zhou to a local bathhouse. Police raided the bathhouse and arrested Yang and Zhou on charges of prostitution shortly after they arrived.

Li answered Caixin's call on June 28, saying he fled from the bathhouse on the day of Yang's arrest and made his way to Guangzhou. Li later hung up the phone, which has since been out of service.

Also on June 28, Yang Libing's younger brother Yang Lihai went to Li's village, as stated on his identity card, where the local village head said that the village did not have a resident named Li Hongfu.

Yang Lihai told Caixin earlier that his brother was being framed. "Shaoyang police have not cracked down on prostitution cases recently. How could my brother be arrested for that reason? Someone wants to restrict his activities," he said.

An investigative report by Caixin in May detailed a child-trafficking system run by local family planning officials. Children were abducted and sold to a local orphanage. The children were later adopted by overseas families.

The Hunan provincial government is currently investigating the child-trafficking cases.