Two young women from mountainous areas were tricked and sold for 276 million VND.
(Baonghean.vn) - Enticed by the promise of payment for bringing girls to China, Nhom actively searched for "prey." The couple Khin and Quân also actively assisted them.
On the morning of August 23, the Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial to hear the cases of defendants Lu Thi Nhom (born in 1993), residing in Chieu Luu commune, Ky Son district; Cut Thi Khin (born in 1983) and Cut Van Quan (born in 1983), both residing in Xa Luong commune, Tuong Duong district, on charges of "Trafficking in children". Khin and Quan are husband and wife.
According to investigative documents, in January 2015, through the social media platform WeChat, Nhom met a woman named Hoa, a Vietnamese national living in China. Hoa told Nhom, "If you find Vietnamese people to bring to China, I will pay you 40,000 yuan for young women and 20,000 yuan for older women. For each person Nhom brings to China, Hoa will pay him 6,000 yuan."
 |
| The three defendants at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu |
In February 2015, Ms. Lin Thi Canh met with Cut Thi Khin to discuss sending her daughter and granddaughter to China to earn money. Afterward, Khin called Nhom and asked, "Is there anyone who can get people to China?" Nhom replied yes.
Later, Nhom met with Mrs. Canh and the couple Khin and Quan. There, Nhom and Mrs. Canh agreed that if they could bring two girls, Lin Thi E Th. (born in 2001, Canh's daughter) and Moong Thi T. (born in 2001, Canh's niece), to China to get married, they would have to send 120 million dong to each family, and the girls would not stay in China for more than two years.
About three days later, Nhom returned to Mrs. Canh's house. There, Mrs. Canh asked Nhom and Khin to write an agreement with the terms they had agreed upon during their previous meeting. After reaching an agreement, Nhom went to Vinh City first, while Quan was responsible for taking the two girls to Vinh City, and then crossing the border into China.
Upon arriving in China, Hoa left Th. and T. at a friend's house to wait for someone to buy them. About 15 days later, after finding someone to buy Th. and T. to be their wives, Hoa paid Nhom 92,000 yuan (276 million VND).
After returning to Vietnam, Nhom gave Mrs. Canh 230 million dong and gave Khin and his wife 10 million dong as payment for their services. Nhom spent the remaining 36 million dong on personal expenses.
Regarding the two victims, after being sold to a Chinese man, in August 2018, Moong Thi T. and Lin Thi E Th. escaped back to Vietnam. On November 30, 2018, T.'s father filed a complaint against Lu Thi Nhom with the Tuong Duong District Police. Based on the victim's complaint, the police successively arrested Nhom, Khin, and Quan.
The investigating agency determined that at the time of being sold, Th. was only 13 years, 8 months, and 27 days old, and T. was only 14 years, 0 months, and 23 days old. Therefore, the three suspects Nhom, Khin, and Quân were prosecuted for the crime of trafficking in children.
The court determined that the defendants' acts of buying and selling children were particularly dangerous to society, and therefore sentenced Lu Thi Nhom to 11 years in prison, Cut Thi Khin to 6 years in prison, and Cut Van Quan to 5 years in prison.