Story By: Anastasia Smirnova, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

A mischievous boy has tried to sell his young sister for the price of 60 GBP in an online advert.

The boy, identified as Viktor from the city of Chelyabinsk in the south-western Russian region of Chelyabinsk Oblast, posted the advert on social media.

The girl, named Masha, was reportedly listed among a selection of crockery dishes for the price of 5,000 RUB (60 GBP).

The seller was even willing to ship the ‘item’ to any would-be buyers.

According to reports, the advert was quickly taken down by website administrators, but its contents had already been leaked by Russian media.

Netizen ‘Alyona’, who has stumbled across the ad, said: “I saw it by chance when I was going through offers in the ‘crockery dishes’ category. I hope this is just someone’s sick joke.”

As the advert technically qualified as human trafficking, the police reportedly launched an investigation.

However, the incident soon proved to be a prank-gone-wrong by the girl’s older brother, according to local media.

Reports said the police had a stern conversation with the children’s mum and the family is currently being monitored by the local social services.

Netizen ‘Denis Inkognito’ said: “What a stupid joke.”

An anonymous netizen wrote: “I am really curious how this ad got through the approval stage by moderators. I’ve always suspected that they might be a little corrupt, but not to this extent.”

The mischievous boy’s age is not known, and his younger sister’s age is also unclear.

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