Taiwanese man arrested for human trafficking in Vietnam
HANOI - Police in southern Vietnam say they have arrested a Taiwanese man accused of trafficking women to Malaysia .
Tsai I Hsien, 45, was arrested in Tien Giang province, 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Ho Chi Minh city on Friday, a provincial investigative police told AFP.
According to state media, Hsien's Vietnamese wife, 34-year-old alleged ring leader Tran Thi My Phuong, and seven other people have been arrested since the beginning of the week in Ho Chi Minh city.
Several dozen young women from rural areas believed they would be taken to Malaysia for high-paid jobs, but were in fact destined for brothels, the online VnExpress newspaper said.
When police first raided the traffickers, many of the women were about to be taken out of the country. Hsien admitted to police that he had already successfully taken several women to Malaysia.
Last month, a court in southern Vietnam handed down jail sentences of six and 12 years to two people for trafficking women to Malaysia.
Over the past few years, many Vietnamese women and children have been trafficked and forced to work in the sex industry in Asia especially China, Cambodia and Taiwan.
No precise figure is available but Vietnamese reports said at least 60,000 Vietnamese women and children have been trafficked over the past decade.
Agence France Presse - April 1st, 2006.
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