A single mother in China was recently arrested after a police investigation revealed that she had sold her twin newborns for 65,000 yuan ($9,100) to settle her mounting debts and buy herself a new phone.

According to Chinese newspaper Ningbo Evening News, the woman, who is in her 20s, resorted to selling her newborn twin sons in September of last year, because she was “penniless and heavily in debt”. Surnamed Ma, the heartless mother added that her parents had been furious about her pre-marital pregnancy and refused to help her raise the babies, while the father, known only as Wu, made it clear that he didn’t want anything to do with his children.

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It’s unclear how Ma managed to find buyers for her month-old twins, but ZaoBao reports that police only learned about the shocking transaction while investigating a similar case. After doing some digging they learned that the babies had been sold to two different couple in Anhui Province, one in Fuyang and another in Suzhou, for a total of 65,000 yuan, just over $9,000.

The father of the babies, who reportedly wasn’t even present when they were born, showed up only after hearing that they were sold, to ask for half the proceeds. Ma told police that she did split the money with the children’s father – she used her share to settle her bank debts and buy a new smartphone, while Wu allegedly settled his gambling debts.

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Police managed to track down the babies in Anhui and placed them both with Ma’s parents. The irresponsible parents have been arrested and face serious prison time. At the time of their arrest they had both squandered their share of the money from the sale.