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Four jailed for sale of young ’brides’
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VietNamNet Bridge – The People's Court in the southwestern province of Tay Ninh yesterday, December 30, sentenced four people to imprisonments ranging from two to 12 years for trafficking more than 400 young women to Malaysia, South Korea, and Taiwan to be sold as brides.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Yen, 53, and Nguyen The Phong, 31, the main go betweens, got 12 and seven years respectively.

Nguyen Thi Khuan, 61, got four years and Pham Thi Phi, two years.

The People's Court also ordered them to pay compensation to the victims.

Five others, including Chin Bang, Nam Dung, Tu Tron, are still under investigation.

From mid-2007 to November 2008, Yen and Phong sold more than 400 young women from Tay Ninh and other Mekong Delta provinces.

In 2006, Yen rented a house in HCM City to select good-looking young women as "mail-order" brides for South Korean and Taiwanese men. A year later, she colluded with a woman whose husband was a Malaysian called Mm Ly. Soon she and Min Ly began to traffic women, with the latter paying her US$1,000 for each girl. Yen was reportedly supplied girls by others like Nguyen Thi Khuan, Tu Tron, Chin Bang, Nam Dung whom she paid VNI2 million for each victim. Yen helped the victims learn foreign languages before they were sent to a foreign country.

At the trial, Yen, Khuan, and Phi pleaded guilty but Phong denied trafficking women, saying all he did was "helping", for the women and demanded proof of his guilt.



VietNamNet/Viet Nam News