Police and border guard forces of central Nghe An and northern Quang Ninh provinces worked together to seize three human traffickers who were attempting to sell a woman into China on Sunday.

>> Human trafficking on the rise in Vietnam, police warn>> 12 sentenced for trafficking women to China On September 1 morning, in Quarter 7,  Hai Yen Ward, Mong Cai Town, Quang Ninh Province, anti-drug police and border guard forces from the two provinces coordinated in following and capturing Xeo Van Cam, a 27-year-old man from Nghe An, who was attempting to take a 20 year-old woman across the border illegally. Cam told the police he wanted to sell the woman, who is from Nghe An’s Ky Son District, to people in China.    Based on Cam’s testimony, the police and border guards later seized two accomplices in the human trafficking ring, Moong Van Uyen, a 28-year-old man, and Lu Thi Mai, a woman. Both are residents of Ky Son. Police are expanding their investigation to track down others involved in the ring. As previously reported, Vietnamese police in July warned that human trafficking in the country is becoming increasingly complex and international in nature. The warning was released by the General Department for Crime Prevention and Control (GDCPC) at a conference jointly held by Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Hanoi on July 2.

Colonel Le Van Chuong, Deputy Chief of the Standing Office on Drugs and Crimes, said that human traffickers mainly target women and children, who account for about 80 percent of the total number of victims of human trafficking.

However, human trafficking rings have also bought and sold men, newborns, unborn babies, and human organs, Chuong said, adding that they also operate hired pregnancy (giving hired birth) services. According to the GDCPC’s statistics, more than 3,200 human trafficking cases have been uncovered in Vietnam since 2005, involving 5,600 traffickers and 7,000 victims. In June, the southern Tay Ninh Province People’s Court sentenced 12 defendants who had sold Vietnamese women to China as potential wives for Chinese men. Of these defendants, Tu Sy Muoi, 59, received the heaviest sentence, 14 years in jail, while the others were sentenced from three years in suspension to 12 years in prison.

From 2011 to July 2012, these traffickers sold 20 young Vietnamese women to China, where Chinese men who wanted to buy the women as wives had to pay VND80-100 million ($4,800).