A young couple was taken into custody for selling their three children to raise money to support their illegitimate lifestyle, the Hunan-based Sanxiang City Express reported.

From behind bars, they said they didn't want the children back and asked when they could get released, according to a police source.

Li Juan (assumed name), then a 16-year-old middle school student in Huizhou, Guangdong province, gave birth to a baby boy in 2008 after living outside of marriage with Li Lin (assumed name), also 16, a migrant from neighboring Hunan province.

Economically independent but addicted to the Internet, the young couple sent the boy to Li Lin's parents but didn't try to prevent another pregnancy. They gave birth to a girl in 2009, whom they sold for 3,000 yuan ($465).

Seeing the financial benefit they could receive from their own children, they took their first boy, at the time three years old, from Li Lin's family and sold him through an intermediary for 30,000 yuan ($4,650) in February 2011. A third child brought them another 7,000 yuan ($1,085).

They could be charged on child trafficking according to the Criminal Law, local police said. The three-year-old boy was recovered in June but the couple was reluctant to meet with him.