Woman involved in human trafficking then evades arrest.
After colluding with her sister to traffic a woman to China, Lu Thi Khuon went into hiding. Five years later, the fugitive was apprehended.
On December 9th, the People's Court of Nghe An province held a first-instance trial to hear the case against Lu Thi Khuon (born in 1975), residing in Huu Kiem commune, Ky Son district (Nghe An province), for the crime of "human trafficking".
According to the indictment, in 2013, Lu Thi Khuon went to China and got married. Later, Khuon met Tien (a Vietnamese woman married to a Chinese man) who persuaded her to find women to sell in China, promising to split the profits equally.
In early October 2015, while returning home to attend his mother's funeral, Khuon persuaded his younger sister, Lu Thi Mai (born in 1978), to find women to take to China to marry. "If you find young women, I'll give you 40 million dong, and older women 30 million dong," Khuon told his sister. Mai agreed.
About 20 days later, when Ven Van Thao (born in 1992, residing in Huu Lap commune, Ky Son district) came to visit, Mai suggested they find women to sell to China, promising 5 million dong. Thao agreed and promised to find people.
Around the end of October 2015, Ms. Mong Thi D. (born in 1978, residing in Huu Lap commune) came to Thao's house to visit. She told Thao that she wanted to go to China to find work, which gave the man the idea to trick and sell her.
After successfully luring the victim, Thao handed D. over to the Mai sisters. A few days later, Khuon took D. to China via an unofficial border crossing.
While abroad, Khuon contacted Tien to pick up Ms. D. and bring her home. Nearly a month later, Tien sold Ms. D. to a Chinese man to be his wife. In this case, Lu Thi Khuon was paid 6 million dong by Tien.
As for the victim, only after being sold did Ms. D. realize she had been deceived. In early March 2019, taking advantage of a lapse in security by her husband's family, D. escaped back to Vietnam and filed a complaint against Ven Van Thao, Lu Thi Mai, and Lu Thi Khuon with the police.
Subsequently, Mai and Thảo were arrested and sentenced to 3 years in prison for human trafficking. Khươn, however, absconded and was subsequently placed under arrest by the police.wantedOn August 22, 2024, Lu Thi Khuon was arrested pursuant to an arrest warrant.
At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime and expressed remorse, asking the court to consider mitigating circumstances and reduce the sentence.
Before the trial, the defendant compensated the victim with 13 million VND. The victim did not attend the trial but submitted a petition requesting a reduced sentence for the defendant.
After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel of judges sentenced Lu Thi Khuon to 5 years in prison for the crime of human trafficking.
