Police in the southern province of Tay Ninh on January 24 arrested five local people for involvement in a human trafficking ring.

Three members of the ring were caught red handed while conducting check-in procedures for five girls, who were to be sold in China, at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on January 23.

Police have rescued the girls, two of whom are from the southern province of Binh Phuoc and three others from Tay Ninh province.

Initial investigations showed that while seeking Vietnamese girls to sell to Chinese men, the ringleader of the gang, a Vietnamese citizen living in China, first contacted the eight other gang members in 2011. The leader paid them as much as 120 million VND (5,600 USD) for each girl successfully sold to China .

As many as 10 girls are believed to have been trafficked by the group.-VNA