Police in the southern province of An Giang on Saturday announced that they had filed charges against two locals for selling 21 Vietnamese women as brides to China.

The defendants are Nguyen Thi Hong Phuong, 39, living in Chau Doc City and Nguyen Thi Huong, 49, residing in Long Xuyen City.

The duo has been charged with human trafficking and could face 2 to 20 years in jail under Vietnamese laws.

Initial investigations found that Phuong “purchased” 21 women from Huong from November 2012 to December 2013.

After that, the young victims were sold as brides to poor countryside men in China from CNY50,000 to 60,000 (about US$8,040 to $9,646), according to the An Giang police division in charge of social crimes.  

Two of the 21 women escaped from their husbands and returned to Vietnam in February this year when they reported their case to local police.

In recent years, Vietnamese police have busted a number of human trafficking rings that sold Vietnamese women to China where they were forced to work as prostitutes or became Chinese men’s wives.  

In January 2014, police in southern Tay Ninh Province cracked down on a gang that sold Vietnamese women to China. They seized five human traffickers and rescued five victims.

In June 2013, police in northern Ha Giang Province indicted three women for illegally sending young girls to China and then selling them to brothels.

Also in June 2013, the People’s Court in southern Tay Ninh Province gave sentences from three to 14 years in prison to 12 defendants who sold Vietnamese women to China as potential wives of Chinese men.

Two months earlier, in April 2013, police in Can Tho City in the Mekong Delta announced that they had arrested three members of a human-trafficking ring that sold 11 Vietnamese women to China and coerced them to become prostitutes.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!