A young couple in China decided to sell their newborn online and use the money to purchase a new iPhone and a motorbike before being tracked down by the police and arrested.

Local media reports (via PA) that the father, who was only 19 years old when his baby girl was born, and the mother, whose age was not disclosed because she was underage, decided to sell their daughter online and started looking for a potential buyer on Chinese messaging app QQ.

They quickly found an interested buyer who said he wanted to purchase the little girl for his sister. The father and the online buyer met and completed the transaction, with the young couple planning to purchase several items, including an iPhone and a motorcycle.

“I didn’t know this was illegal”

Chinese police managed to track down the young couple and arrested both the mother and the father to bring them in court. The judge sentenced the father to 3 years in jail while the mother received a two and half years suspended prison sentence because she hasn’t completed her studies.

Furthermore, the police claim that the father sold the baby without the mother’s consent. And yet, she wasn’t really affected that she lost her baby girl.

“I myself was adopted, and many people in my hometown send their kids to other people to raise them. I really didn’t know that it was illegal,” she was quoted as saying.

When hearing that the two parents got arrested, the online buyer also decided to turn himself in to the police, but it’s not yet clear if he was sent to prison or not. What’s more shocking, however, is that the judge decided to let the buyer’s sister raise the child because of the difficult conditions the young parents are dealing with.