The leader of a cross-border baby trafficking gang was sentenced to death in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Friday, a local court announced.

The Intermediate people's court in Fangchenggang, a coastal city in southern Guangxi, bordering Vietnam, gave sentences to 24 members of the gang, which is believed to have brought more than 20 babies from Vietnam to China since 2010.

The baby trafficking gang brought babies from Vietnam to Dongxing of Guangxi, and transferred them to Jieyang, Shantou and other places in Guangdong Province for sale, the court said, adding that the gang also brought pregnant Vietnamese women to China to sell their babies after they gave birth.

Huang Qingheng, the leader of the gang, was sentenced to death, and another gang leader, Huang Manli, received life in prison. The other 22 members received sentences ranging from one year and ten months imprisonment to 15 years in jail, according to the court.

Police broke up the ring in July 2011 and saved 11 babies and children. On May 3, 2013, the Ministry of Public Security of China handed over 10 rescued Vietnamese children to the Vietnamese government in Fangchenggang.

Among the 24 people, one is Vietnamese, and eight others claim to be Vietnamese, according to the High People's Court in Guangxi. The court also said that the Vietnamese prisoner would be deported to her home country.