Police in China have rescued twin baby girls sold by a maternity doctor, bringing the number of infants recovered from the suspected trafficking ring to three

The doctor at the center of the scandal is Zhang Shuxia, deputy director of the maternity department of the Fuping County Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital. Since news of the scandal broke, police have received reports of 55 similar cases from local residents, including 26 cases pointing to Zhang. Police launched investigations into five of the reported cases, and Zhang was detained on suspicion of human trafficking. Fuping County authorities said that Zhang sold a baby boy for 21,600 yuan ($3,527) on July 17, 2013 the day after he was born. The baby was then sold two more times in ten days' time. Police said that Zhang told the child's parents, Dong Shanshan and Lai Guofeng, that their son had contracted syphilis through the mother, and convinced them to surrender the boy into her care. But the mother subsequently tested negative for syphilis and grew suspicious. She went to the police. The infant was found in a good condition in a town in neighboring Henan Province. Most of the affected families hailed from the same village as Zhang and her mother. Zhang made false claims that the children had serious ailments, from heart problems and cerebral palsy to missing genitals, to convince parents to part with their babies.