Lê Thị Mỹ H.,39, along with three other people, are accused of arranging the sale of the 12-year-old to a man in China who wanted a wife.

When the child refused to marry the man more than twice her age, both her mother and grandmother threatened to commit suicide if she didn’t go through with the wedding.

Nguyễn Thị L., 27, from  Kiên Giang Province; Trần Thị L., 67, from Cần Thơ City; and 30-year-old Chinese national with a Vietnamese name transliterated as Triệu Thành L., also face charges.

The case centres around Nguyễn Thị L., who had moved to China in 2017. She returned to Việt Nam in 2023, inviting Triệu Thành L. to join her.

Knowing he was looking for a wife, she introduced him to Trần Thị L. and Lê Thị Mỹ H.  and told them he was wealthy.

Lê Thị Mỹ H. agreed to sell her daughter to him at a cost of VNĐ150 million (US$6,089) in cash and a tael of gold.

Nguyễn Thị L. is accused of brokering the deal and transferred money at various stages to the parties involved.

After being persuaded by her mother and grandmother, the young girl agreed and was smuggled across the border while her husband-to-be flew back to China.

Not long after the pair set up home, authorities in China became suspicious of her status and she was deported back to Việt Nam in October last year. It was then she raised the alarm and local police began investigating.

The Ministry of Public Safety's estimate that more than 2,900 Vietnamese persons were trafficked between 2016 and 2020, and over 90 per cent of them are women and children.

Since the Law on Human Trafficking came into force at the beginning of 2012 and February 2023, more than 3,000 traffickers have been prosecuted and 7,900 victims rescued.

The Vietnamese government and its Chinese counterpart have signed an agreement on human trafficking prevention and conducted regular joint operations to combat traffickers. — VNS