Vietnam inspecting Hanoi pagoda after discovery of child trading

The inspection is expected to last for up to a week, said the People’s Committee of Long Bien District, where the pagoda is located.

Yesterday morning, the team began examining the area at Bo De intended for feeding and teaching disadvantaged children.

The inspectors found 146 children staying at the pagoda, whose abbot is the nun Thich Dam Lan.

“The team will inspect the pagoda’s facilities, healthcare conditions, accommodation, and reports on children’s entry into and exit from the place,” Do Manh Hai, chairman of the Long Bien People’s Committee, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. 

The district authorities will not allow the pagoda to admit any new children, the chairman said.

Based on the result of the inspection, the team will formulate a proposal for whether the children being supported by the pagoda should continue staying there or be handed over to competent agencies, according to Radio The Voice of Vietnam.

The Long Bien People’s Committee once released a report, saying that the pagoda brought up nearly 200 children without reporting to competent agencies, Lao Dong (Labor) newspaper said.

The inspection was launched after two women – one of whom was the caretaker of children at Bo De – were arrested on Sunday for trading a boy from the pagoda for VND35 million ($1,650).

The two are Pham Thi Nguyet, 35, of Hoang Mai District, and Nguyen Thi Thanh Trang, 37, the former caretaker.
Nguyet was found buying a little boy, named Cu Nguyen Cong, for $1,650 from Thanh on January 1, 2014 .  
 
After the trading, Nguyet renamed him Pham Gia Bao, who died on June 27 this year after contracting measles.

After the two women were arrested, police received many requests from individuals for competent agencies to look into the “disappearance” of a number of children who were admitted to and brought up at the pagoda in the 2007-2012 period.

Three people living in the capital city recently reported to local police that at least 11 children mysteriously vanished from the pagoda during that period.

The three claimed to have done charity work at Bo De before.

Police are continuing their investigation to determine how many children have been traded or given away from the pagoda and whether the nun Thich Dam Lan was involved in the purported trade.