Pregnant woman tricked and sold then escaped

On October 30, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened the first instance trial of defendant Lo Thi My Anh (born 1984), residing in Yen Hoa commune, Tuong Duong district, for the crime of Human trafficking.

The human trafficking case involving defendant My Anh occurred 10 years ago.

The case file shows that around the beginning of 2014, Oc Thi Phong (born in 1981, residing in Yen Na commune, Tuong Duong district) was invited by a woman named Xu (identity unknown) to find women to take to China to sell. Phong then invited My Anh and two other people, Kha Thi Thiem (born in 1984), Vi Thi Ba (born in 1987), both residing in Yen Tinh commune, Tuong Duong district, to go find "prey".

About 2 months later, Ba knew that Ms. Lo Thi H. (born in 1994, residing in Yen Tinh commune, Tuong Duong district) wanted to go to China to work, so he invited her and informed his accomplices.

The next day, Phong asked his accomplices to bring Ms. H. to him. When they met, Phong asked: "If you go to China to get married, we will give you 100 million VND." Because he was afraid that if she did not agree, she would not be able to return, Ms. H. agreed. After that, Phong forced Ms. H. to write a guarantee that she would voluntarily go abroad to do business and get married.

Following the Department’s instructions, My Anh took Ms. H. by bus to Mong Cai (Quang Ninh) and handed her over to a man sent by Xu to pick her up. In the foreign country, Ms. H. discovered she was pregnant before being sold and asked to return home. However, Xu still sold Ms. H. to the local man.

Xu then told Phong that because H. was pregnant, he could only sell for 70 million VND. Xu gave Phong 55 million VND to give to H.'s father 40 million VND. In this case, Phong pocketed 6 million VND; while Ba, Thiem, and My Anh each received 3 million VND.

On August 15, 2019, H.'s father filed a complaint with the police. After that, Phong, Ba, and Thiem were arrested and brought to trial for human trafficking with a sentence of 30 to 36 months in prison. Meanwhile, My Anh quickly fled and was wanted by the police. In June 2024, Lo Thi My Anh was arrested.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime. The defendant stated that out of greed, he and his accomplices took the victim to a foreign country to sell her.

The jury found that the defendant committed a crime with aggravating circumstances of selling a pregnant woman. Therefore, the court sentenced Lo Thi My Anh to 3 years in prison for the crime of Human Trafficking.

Regarding the woman named Xu, through local verification, there is a subject named Xu, real name Lo Thi Thuy, who has left the locality since 2010 and has not returned. During the investigation, there was only the testimony of the Department, so there was not enough basis to prosecute Xu.