A mother sold her newborn twin babies for £7,400 to pay of her credit card bills and buy a mobile phone.

The mum, in her twenties, sold the boys to two different families who lived more than 430 miles away from their eastern China hometown.

They were born premature and needed to be kept in incubators after they were born last September, but at around two weeks old they were sold.

Their mum, known by her surname Ma, sold one boy for 45,000 yuan (£5,100) and the other for 20,000 yuan (£2,271), the Daily Mail reports.

She took the decision after her partner, known by his surname Wu, did not show up at the hospital to help care for the babies and his parents also refused to help.

After finding out she had sold the children, Wu asked if he could use some of the money to pay off his gambling debts, but was told it had already been spent.

Both babies have since been taken back from the families which bought them, and are currently being looked after by their grandparents.

Cixi police in Zhejiang Province gave details of the case on Friday.

According to the paper, they were tipped off about the case in July and formed two investigative teams to chase the boys, once in Anhui Province and the other in Shandong Province.a

Ma and Wu have now been arrested, after the adoptive families agreed to hand back the children.

Child trafficking carries a penalty of up to 10 years in jail in China.

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