A judge in Chenzhou City of central Chinese province Hunan has sent Song Zhongyu and six others behind the bars for one to four years after they were found guilty of illegal organ trading and inflicting intentional injury after a teenager sold them his of his kidneys to purchase an iPad and iPhone.

The gang had allured the 17-year-old school-going boy, identified only as Wang, to sell his kidney in exchange for Apple gadgets worth nearly £1,900 through an online chat room.

Wang's mother became suspicious about where his son had received the money for purchasing the iPad and iPhone. The student revealed the dreadful deal when he started suffering from renal failure.

Song Zhongyu, who had performed the back-street operation, has been sentenced to three years of jail-term with a reprieve of five years. The six others have been slapped with jail-terms of between one and four years.

The scandal's mastermind, He Wei, was sent behind the bars for five years in April last year, after he was found guilty of organising the illegitimate kidney trade.

The mastermind admitted that he had received nearly £22,000 ($35,000) for the transplant. Of that amount, Song was given £8,300, while the student received merely £1,900.

The appalling incident revealed that in China, where there is huge shortage of organ donors, illegal trading of organs has become a widespread online practice.