Man brings pregnant 12-year-old to hospital 'for check up', tries to pass her off as his wife

It seems like a normal enough scenario on paper -- a husband and his mother-in-law bring his pregnant "20-year-old wife" to Xuzhou City Central Hospital in East China's Jiangsu Province for a check up.

But the mother to be was clearly not 20 -- not even close -- and hospital staff sounded the alarm.

The man, known only by his surname, Liu, was arrested after authorities discovered his "wife" was just 12 years old, The People's Daily reports.

During the examination, man (35) and woman (47) had dominated the conversation with a doctor, who later asked them to wait outside so he could talk to the girl alone, according to the Chinese news outlet.

However, doctors were unable to get any answers from the girl as she did not speak any Mandarin.

"It's obvious she's just a child," it's reported one of the hospital staff said. "[She's] certainly not anywhere near being 20 years old."

The hospital staff's suspicions are said to have angered the husband who was quoted saying: "I took her here to be examined. Just do your job. Stop asking so many questions."

He and the older woman, named only as Xie, allegedly even threatened to “bomb the hospital for the doctor asking too many questions”.

Local police were called onto the scene and discovered that the girl did not possess any Chinese identification as she was a foreign national from South East Asia.

Read more: Passers-by are horrified as middle-aged man ‘marries’ 12-year-old girl

China National Radio later reported that an official investigation found that Xie, from Central China's Henan Province, abducted and sold the girl to Liu.

Police confirmed reports that they believed the girl to be an abductee and have detained the man and woman who are under investigation for human trafficking.

Investigators suspect the girl was bought as a foreign bride, Global Times reports. According to CCTV footage, at least 14 Vietnamese girls have been abducted in South China's Yunnan Province and sold since 2011.

Sources: en.people.cn, globaltimes.cn, elitedaily.com, mirror.co.uk, metro.co.uk