TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Governmental investigators Thursday smashed a human-trafficking ring, which had allegedly been smuggling Chinese children into the United States, Mexico and France by using identifications purchased from indigenous Taiwanese parents, local media reported yesterday.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said that the masterminds behind the ring, surnamed Liao and Hsu, successfully applied for genuine children's passports after obtaining the necessary documents for NT$5,000 to NT$10,000 from parents of young children in indigenous tribes in the Hualien area. Liao and Hsu hired women who resembled the Chinese children to meet other members of the network at Hong Kong International Airport, where the woman would then chaperon the child to the United States or Mexico.

The children were likely sold into forced labor or the sex trade, said reports.

Officers said that assuming approximately 37 children were successfully smuggled, at a price of US$70,000 per head, the organization likely netted over NT$80 million.

The trafficking ring had their sights on France after new U.S. visa requirements effective this July 1 required children under 14 to be present when applying for their visiting entry permits, said the media.

The International Criminal Affairs Section of the CIB nabbed Liao and Hsu as well as one of the fraudulent mothers at Taoyuan International Airport before they boarded a flight to France