Police arrest a couple for running a begging racket with children
HANOI - Police arrested a couple believed to have forced 21 children and old people to beg on the streets of southern Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, local media reported Saturday (22 Sept).
Do Van Xuyen and his wife, Nguyen Thi Ngoc, were detained Thursday (20 Sept) after police found evidence they had forced 21 children and old people to walk the streets of the city to beg, the Lao Dong (Labor) newspaper said, citing police.
Each person allegedly had to give the couple 200,000 Vietnamese dong (US$12) a day, and would be beaten if they handed in less than that amount, the paper said.
The victims were being sent back to their home villages in the central province of Thanh Hoa, said the paper.
Police in Ho Chi Minh were not available for comment Saturday.
Forced labor is rampant in Vietnam, where many of the victims are children. They are often forced to work as beggars and sometimes prostitutes. (
The Associated Press - September 22, 2007.
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