HEFEI - Police in East China's Anhui province have rescued four women from life as a sex slave after busting two gangs which abducted mentally handicapped women.

Police in Dingyuan county said the two gangs held the women in a local village, where they were raped and beaten before being sold to farmers at between 4,000 and 20,000 yuan (651 to $ 3,257).

At least ten women from Anhui and nearby Jiangsu province have fallen victims to the gangs over the past five years, according to the police.

Police say the search is ongoing for several women who remain unaccounted for.