Greedy, aunt sold niece to China

On October 12, the Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendants Kha Van Ngoc (born 1964, residing in Lang Khe commune, Tuong Duong district) and Lo Thi Thuyen (born 1954, residing in My Ly commune, Ky Son district) for the act of "Human trafficking".

Lo Thi Thuyen and Kha Van Ngoc at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

According to the investigation documents, around August 2014, Ngoc heard that there was a woman named On in Tuong Duong district who often brought Vietnamese girls to China and would pay for the introduction, so she tried to contact her. Over the phone, this person told Ngoc that if she could introduce young girls to sell to foreign countries, she would receive a salary of 20 to 30 million VND/person.

On September 1, 2014, Ngoc came to Thuyen's house to discuss ways to find someone to sell to. Thuyen immediately thought of her cousin, Kha Thi T. (born in 1991, residing in Mai Son commune, Tuong Duong district). T.'s mother and Thuyen are two sisters.

After that, both of them went to Ms. T's house and promised to take her to Lao Cai province to work as a textile worker with a salary of 5 million VND/month. Depressed because she had just gone through 2 broken marriages and had to raise a small child, Ms. T agreed.

On September 3, Ngoc drove Ms. T. to Vinh bus station to get on a bus to Mong Cai (Quang Ninh). As soon as she got on the bus, T. was approached by a woman who introduced herself as Hong and led her away (later, Ms. T. learned that the woman was On). Afterwards, On took Ms. T. to China through an illegal route.

After living in a foreign country for 25 days, Ms. T. was sold to a local man for 550,000 yuan (equivalent to 180 million VND). Afterwards, On sent 45 million VND to Ms. T.'s family.

Ngoc and Thuyen then contacted On many times to demand their wages but were refused and could not be contacted after that.

Speaking of the victim, it was only when she went to China that she realized she had been tricked and trafficked. After living together for a while, she and her Chinese husband had a child together.

In early February 2018, Ms. T. asked her husband's family to let her return to Vietnam to bring her step-son to live with them. With the consent of her husband's family, Ms. T. immediately returned to Vietnam and then reported to the authorities. Kha Van Ngoc and Lo Thi Thuyen were arrested by the police.

In court, both Ngoc and Thuyen admitted their crimes. Thuyen said that although he knew that selling people to China was illegal, he thought “because they are family members, it was okay.”

The victim’s representative asked for a reduced sentence for the defendants. Because defendant Lo Thi Thuyen revealed new details that her biological father was a martyr, the panel of judges decided to temporarily suspend the trial to clarify this information.