Police in Vietnam and Laos have dismantled a criminal ring trafficking in children under 16 years old, rescuing many young girls who were taken to Laos for sexual exploitation.
On the evening of December 11, the Ministry of Public Security announced that the Criminal Police Department coordinated with the Department of Drug and Crime Prevention, the Border Guard Command, functional units of the Ministry of Public Security, the Criminal Police Department of Hung Yen Provincial Police and the Lao Police to solve the case and successfully rescue many women who were being exploited by the subjects.
The police have prosecuted and detained Phan Thi Nguyet Mai (born in 1991, residing in Ly Nhan commune, Vinh Tuong district, Vinh Phuc province) and Luong Van Dung (born in 1989, Tien Lu, Hung Yen) for the crime of "Trafficking in persons under 16 years old". Mai was identified as the ringleader.
Around the end of 2021, Phan Thi Nguyet Mai met Luong Van Dung and rented a house to live together as husband and wife in Hung Yen. During this time, Dung managed 5-6 employees serving karaoke bars, Mai supported him by recruiting employees to work for Dung.
In early 2023, Mai told Dung to go to Laos to find a way to bring Vietnamese women to work as prostitutes to earn more money. After a while in Laos, Mai returned to Vietnam to recruit women to work as employees for Dung and also to gather them to later choose to send them to Laos to work as prostitutes. Mai used a Facebook account named "Tran Trang" to join the group "Recruiting karaoke staff".
In early March 2024, through social networks, D.T.Tr (born in 2009, in Tuy Hoa, Phu Yen) got to know Le Dinh Dung (born in 1999, in Thanh Oai, Hanoi) and was asked by Dung to go to Hanoi to work as an employee at a karaoke bar managed by him. Tr. took a bus from Binh Dinh to Hanoi, was picked up by Dung, and taken to Gia Hung karaoke bar in Binh Minh commune, Thanh Oai district.
After working as a waitress at karaoke bars in Thanh Oai for about a week, Tr. saw Mai's recruitment post on social media, so Tr. became friends with Phan Thi Nguyet Mai. Tr. was invited by Mai to go to Hung Yen to work as a waitress at a karaoke bar with a higher salary.
Because the restaurant in Thanh Oai had few customers, Tr. agreed to go back to Hung Yen to work for Mai if she paid the amount of about 10 million VND that Tr. owed Le Dinh Dung.
Mai discussed with Luong Van Dung that she would redeem Tr. to become an employee for 15 million VND. Luong Van Dung agreed and transferred 4.7 million VND for Mai to redeem Tr.
On March 15, 2024, Phan Thi Nguyet Mai drove to Gia Hung karaoke bar, transferred 9.8 million VND to Le Dinh Dung, then picked up Tr. and took her back to Hung Yen.
As soon as she arrived at the boarding house in Tien Lu (Hung Yen), Mai asked Tr. to write a loan note for 15 million VND. Tr. worked as a waiter at karaoke bars in this area under the management and arrangement of Mai and Dung.
After about a week, Mai invited Tr. to go to Laos to work as a karaoke hostess to earn more money than working in Vietnam.
On March 25, 2024, Mai took Tr. and OTK (born in 2006, in Nghe An, also a karaoke bar employee in Tien Lu) to Cho Gao bus station, Hung Yen and then took a bus to Dien Bien.
At Tay Trang border gate, Mai, Tr. and K. completed exit procedures to Laos and went to Boten Economic Zone, Luangnamtha province, Laos (the border area between Laos and China). Here, Mai handed Tr. and K. over to a woman commonly known as Trang “tàu”.
Mai informed that the total amount Tr. owed her was 68 million VND and asked Tr. to work for Trang to gradually pay off the debt to Mai.
Every day, Tr. had to sell sex to customers from around 6pm until the next morning. Because Trang threatened to sell him elsewhere if he did not comply, Tr. had to sell sex according to this woman's arrangement. After working in Boten (Laos) for about 2 weeks, taking advantage of the subjects' carelessness, Tr. escaped back to Vietnam.
After a period of urgently collecting evidence, on September 11, 2024, the task force mobilized forces, coordinated with the Department of Drug and Crime Prevention - Border Guard Command, the Department of Technical Services, the Institute of Criminal Science of the Ministry of Public Security and the Criminal Police Department of Hung Yen Provincial Police to solve the case, simultaneously searched, summoned the subjects, and successfully rescued 5 female victims who were being exploited at the karaoke bar.
The five victims are being sent to the Peace House of the Center for Women and Development - Vietnam Women's Union to receive psychological and health counseling and information gathering during the investigation.
Expanding the investigation, the police determined that Phan Thi Nguyet Mai and Luong Van Dung had recruited many women and lured them to Boten, Laos, and handed them over to Trang "tau" to organize prostitution for Chinese people.
The Criminal Police Department has sent a working group to work, coordinate with Lao police to investigate, verify, arrest the subject, rescue the victim; deport and hand over related Vietnamese subjects for handling according to the provisions of Vietnamese law.
Simultaneously summoning and searching at address 76,77 building in Boten economic zone, police of both countries arrested the subject, rescued the victims at many locations in Boten special zone, LuangNamTha province, Laos led by Vietnamese and Chinese subjects.
During the joint investigation, Lao police summoned, searched, and detained 2 Chinese and 2 Vietnamese managers of the prostitution brokerage facility in Boten, Laos (where the victim D.T.Tr was sexually exploited before), including: Hu Ping (born in 1991) and Chen QinBo (born in 1979, husband of Ha Thi Thu Trang); Dinh Thi Ngoc Linh (born in 1998, birthplace of Phu Tho); Hoang Thi Anh (born in 1998, birthplace of Lai Chau).
The above mentioned individuals were brought to Vientiane by Lao police for investigation and prosecution for human trafficking and prostitution brokerage.
On November 10, the Department of Police for Prevention of Human Trafficking Crimes, General Department of Police, Ministry of Security of Laos deported and handed over to the Department of Criminal Police, Ministry of Public Security, Ha Thi Thu Trang (aka Trang “tầu”) and 13 victims related to the prostitution establishment that was just destroyed by Lao police, to Vietnam to fight and exploit to serve the investigation of the case.
VN (according to VTC)