Vietnamese police uncover ring selling infants to China
Original Source: VNA news agency website, Hanoi
BBC Monitoring International Reports
Ho Chi Minh City, 30 December:
Police in Ho Chi Minh City's District 3 said on 28 December that, in collaboration with their counterparts in the northern province of Quang Ninh, they had uncovered a ring selling infants to China.
Three women were detained in Mong Cai town in Quang Ninh Province bordering China on 26 December, preparing to sell a two-month-old baby across the border, police said. Another two women and a man were also arrested in Ho Chi Minh City one day later.
Ring members said that they had sold two to three infants to China every month since they started the operation in August.
They also said that they paid about 4m Vietnamese dong each for the babies and that most of them were abandoned at maternity hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City.
Police said they are widening their investigation to determine whether hospital employees were involved.
Original Language: English
Memo:
Text of report in English by Vietnamese news agency VNA website
Source: VNA news agency website, Hanoi, in English 30 Dec 05/BBC Monitoring © British Broadcasting Corporation 2005