China frees 89 children in trafficking crackdown

Chinese police have freed 89 children and arrested 369 people for child trafficking, they said Wednesday. The six-month crackdown was launched after online reports of widespread abductions sparked public outrage.

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The operation targeted two "large criminal enterprises" involved which sold children for an average of about 40,000 yuan (4,300 euros) across 14 provinces, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.

Abductions and human trafficking have become serious public concerns after a string of revelations, including a shocking 2007 scandal in which thousands were forced into slave labour in brickyards and mines across China.

Some Chinese academics have blamed the country's "one-child" policy, which is aimed at controlling growth in China's population, the world's largest at 1.3 billion, for contributing to child trafficking.

At the beginning of the year when Yu Jianrong, a rural development and activist, launched a microblog to help parents find missing children. It went viral as parents jumped at the chance of finding missing kids, prompting the government to issue a new crackdown pledge.