Nghe An Court sentenced the men who sold 3 girls and then blackmailed them.
(Baonghean.vn) - Chuong and his accomplices tricked and sold 3 girls to China for 186 million VND. Later, Chuong was threatened by The: If he did not give the money, he would report to the police. Fearful, Chuong gave The 210 million VND.
On November 27, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of the defendants: Lu Van Chuong (born 1996, residing in Huu Kiem commune, Ky Son district), Luong Van Son (born 1994, residing in Keng Du commune, Ky Son district) for the crime of "Child trafficking”; Defendant Luong Pho The (born in 1977, residing in Keng Du commune) for the crime of “Extortion of property”; Defendant Lo Van Phay (born in 1984, residing in Keng Du commune) for the crime of “Failure to report a crime”.
While working in China, Chuong met Moong Thi Tien and was invited by her to find women to sell there and receive 100 million VND in wages. In July 2015, Chuong returned to Vietnam and invited Son to find women to sell, promising to pay 70 million VND if they found them.
A few months later, Chuong and Son went to Keng Du commune and approached some girls to trick them into going to work in Binh Duong. Believing it was true, the two girls, Luong Thi Linh and Luong Thi Lam, agreed to go to Binh Duong.
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| Defendants at trial. Photo: Tran Vu |
Tuong Lam and Linh went to work at the company, Luong Thi Hoa (born 2001, residing in Keng Du commune) also wanted to go with them and Chuong agreed. Then, Chuong asked Phay and Son to take the 3 girls to catch a bus for him. Knowing that Phay had discovered the incident, Son went to see them and told them: "Don't tell anyone, when you come back I will share the money."
After that, Chuong took the 3 girls to China through illegal means. In the foreign country, Tien sold the 3 girls to 3 Chinese men to marry for 620,000 yuan (equivalent to 186 million VND). When returning to Vietnam, Chuong gave Son and Phay 70 million VND each, and pocketed the remaining 46 million.
Some time later, the families learned that their children had been sold to China, so they went to The to ask him to find the trafficker. After learning that Chuong and Son had taken three girls to China to sell, The came to their house and demanded 300 million VND, saying that if they did not pay, he would report them to the police. Chuong replied that he had only sold the girls for 180 million VND and asked to give the money to the families.
The received 180 million but only gave each victim's family 30 million. The also asked for more money for finding the child, so the families gave him an additional 5 million. 3 months later, The continued to go to Chuong's house to ask for another 30 million. With the above amount, The gave Phay 14 million. Thus, the total amount of money that The appropriated was 120 million.
On January 10, 2020, Luong Thi Hoa fled to Vietnam and filed a complaint against the traffickers. The investigation agency determined that at the time of being sold, the victim Hoa was just over 13 years old.
In addition, The also committed the crime of Extortion in another case with similar methods, the amount of 10 million VND.
At the trial, the defendants admitted their crimes, confessed honestly, and asked for leniency. The victim's representative asked for a reduced sentence for the defendants.
The People's Court sentenced Lu Van Chuong to 11 years in prison, Luong Van Son to 8 years in prison for "Buying and selling children"; sentenced Luong Pho The to 6 years in prison for "Extortion of property", and defendant Lo Van Phay to 6 months in prison but suspended the sentence for "Failure to report a crime". Regarding the civil part, the court decided to recover 120 million VND from defendant The.
The names of the three victims have been changed.