Chinese man walks out of hospital carrying his three-day-old daughter to sell her to a strange couple for £5,700

A Chinese man has been detained after selling his three-day-old daughter to a strange couple he met on a social media app for £5,700.

Surveillance footage shows the father, known by his surname Zhao, walking out of a maternity hospital in eastern China carrying the newborn to the buyers. The girl was then taken to a new home 160 miles away.

Zhao told police he and his wife 'were not capable of raising the child'.

The father carried out the illegal transaction through a friend who helped him post an advertisement on popular Chinese messaging platform WeChat, according to police in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province.

Zhao's wife, the middleman and the purchasing couple have also been detained.

The baby has been taken to a governmental welfare centre to be looked after.

The shocking incident was reported by Jiangsu Public Channel this week.

According to the report, police were alerted of the case in April by web users who saw a 'baby on sale' post in a chatting group on WeChat.

Officers found out the person who had uploaded the post was a resident of Changzhou, identified as Wang.

Through investigation, police discovered that Wang had a friend, Zhao, in a nearby city called Suqian, and Zhao's wife had just given birth to a baby girl.

Police then obtained surveillance footage from the hospital where Zhao's wife had stayed and saw Zhao carrying the baby out of the premises just three day after the child was born.

Zhao's wife, Sun, admitted to police that she and her husband had sold their baby.

She claimed they were not able to bring up the child due to financial reasons.

The purchasing couple, Li and Gao, are from provincial capital Nanjing. They also confessed to their wrongdoing.

They told police they had been married 'for years' and had not been able to have a baby due to poor health.

They said as soon as they saw the advertisement, they agreed to buy the child and paid the deposit.

The couple then travelled to Suqian to get the girl from Zhao.

People who are found guilty of child trafficking can be jailed for up to 10 years in China, according to the country's law.