Police of Dong Da district busted an inter-provincial human trafficking ring, arresting 19 people involved.

They saved nine victims who were traded for prostitution in northern Hai Phong city and provinces of Nam Dinh and Lao Cai. Seven of the victims were girls under 16 years of age, with the youngest being nearly 13.

Three of the girls were found confined, beaten and starved in a brothel as punishment for refusing to receive clients.

Deputy Head of the district's police Nguyen Van Thanh, who headed the investigation, said the ring included traffickers as young as 15 years old.

"They often trap the victims by offering to pay their internet fees or pressurising and beating them until they are prepared to sign a document agreeing that they were in debt, and would be forced into prostitution to service the debt," he said.

A 15-year-old girl in Hai Phong, for example, had her internet service fees paid by Quach Ngoc Dung, one of the traffickers. In early June she agreed to go to a coffee shop with Dung and some of his friends. However, they were discovered and caught by the police while they were trying to take the girl to Do Son town to sell her to a brothel.

According to initial investigations, the ring admitted to being involved in 11 cases of trading women and children since early this year at a price of between 3 and 12 million VND (157-631 USD) each.
Thanh warned that loose management of internet services and a lack of parental care were at the root of the problem./.