3 nicked for selling Vietnamese women to Malaysia for prostitution

Police in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on Friday arrested three people in a ring that allegedly sold five Vietnamese women to Malaysia to work as prostitutes.

The arrested include two women, Tat Cam Linh, 33, and Mai Thi Be Thuy, 38, and a man, Luu Tuan Khanh, 28, police said, adding that the detention was assisted by officers from the Ministry of Public Security.

Linh went to Malaysia to live in 2006, and later had relations with a Vietnamese woman named M., who owns a bar there, according to the case file.

M. asked Linh to provide her with young beautiful Vietnamese women to serve as sex workers at her bar.

M. offered to pay Linh VND36 million (US$1,600) for every woman she sent in from Vietnam, which she agreed.

In 2013, Linh returned to Vietnam and made acquaintance with Thuy. She later asked Thuy to seek nice girls for her to send to Malaysia as sex workers.

Link asked Thuy to dupe their potential victims into thinking that they would be sent to Malaysia as well-paid workers.

Linh promised to pay Thuy VND7 million ($312) for each girl introduced successfully.  

Linh also offered to pay Khanh, another acquaintance of hers, do find the girls for her, with an offer of VND8 million ($356) per woman.

In July 2015, Thuy introduced 25-year-old Pham Thi Kieu H., of Can Tho City, to Linh after knowing that H. wanted to be sent aboard as a guest worker.

Linh met H. on August 19, and decided to take her to Malaysia.

She then paid Thuy the promised remuneration via Khanh, who was also asked to give H. VND1 million ($44.5) as support for her children.

Linh and H. later stayed in a same room in a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, waiting for a flight to Malaysia.

During the stay, H. overheard Linh talking with someone on the phone, from which she learned of the plan to sell her to Malaysia for prostitution.

The woman thus managed to escape and reported her case to police, who later arrested Linh, Khanh and Thuy.

Linh confessed to police that she had successfully sold five women in southwestern provinces for prostitution in Malaysia prior to H., according to Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborer) newspaper.

Linh lied to her victims that she would help them to get well-paid jobs in Malaysia, but after arriving in the country, they were forced to work as sex workers, according to the newspaper.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!