1-3-2024 (HANOI) In a distressing case emerging from the southern city of Can Tho, a 39-year-old mother, Le Thi My H, is set to be prosecuted for trafficking her own daughter to China. Alongside her, three other individuals, including 27-year-old Nguyen Thi L from Kien Giang Province, 67-year-old Tran Thii L from Can Tho City, and a 30-year-old Chinese national with a Vietnamese name transliterated as Trieu Thanh L, also face charges.
The charges revolve around allegations of arranging the sale of the 12-year-old girl to a man in China who sought a wife. The situation took a darker turn when the child refused to marry the man, who was more than twice her age. Both her mother and grandmother resorted to threatening suicide unless she complied with the wedding.
Nguyen Thi L, who had moved to China in 2017, returned to Vietnam in 2023, inviting Trieu Thanh L to join her. Aware that Trieu Thanh L was seeking a wife, she introduced him to Tran Thi L. and Le Thi My H, informing them of his wealth.
Le Thi My H allegedly agreed to sell her daughter to him for VNĐ150 million (US$6,089) in cash and a tael of gold. Nguyen Thi L is accused of brokering the deal, facilitating money transfers at various stages to the involved parties.
Despite the young girl being smuggled across the border after agreeing to the marriage under pressure from her mother and grandmother, suspicions arose in China. She was deported back to Vietnam in October last year, prompting her to raise the alarm and initiate a police investigation.
The Ministry of Public Safety’s estimate reveals that more than 2,900 Vietnamese individuals were trafficked between 2016 and 2020, with over 90 per cent being women and children. Since the Law on Human Trafficking came into force in 2012, more than 3,000 traffickers have been prosecuted, leading to the rescue of 7,900 victims by February 2023.
