Vietnamese, Malaysian captured for sending women to Malaysia for forced prostitution

The Southern Criminal Police Department, under the Ministry of Public Security, on Monday said that they have detained Ngu Weng Hie, 54, a Malaysian, and Nguyen Thi Le Hoa, 42, from the southern Vietnamese province of An Giang, for trafficking women into prostitution.

Hie was arrested in mid-April when he returned from Malaysia to Vietnam via Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Hoa was apprehended around that time in An Giang.

The foreign man is likely the instigator of the scam, police said, adding that they have managed to rescue nine women who were the victims of the ring with support from the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia.

Vietnamese police officers launched an investigation at the end of 2014, when a number of women in An Giang reported that they had managed to escape back to Vietnam after falling prey to Hoa and Hie.

These women accused that they had been duped by Hoa into going to Malaysia for work, but when they arrived there they were sent to cafés, bars or other places to work as sex workers.

According to investigators, Hoa left Vietnam for Malaysia in 2012 and worked in a restaurant owned by Hie.
One year later, the woman and her boss discussed a scam in which Hoa would entice Vietnamese women to go to Malaysia for work but actually force them into prostitution.

Hie would pay Hoa VND6 million (US$278) for each woman successfully sent to Malaysia.

He would also pay all costs related to the travel of the women from Vietnam to Malaysia.

Nguyen Thi Le Hoa is seen at the office of the Southern Criminal Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security. Photo:Southern Criminal Police Department

Hoa later returned to Vietnam and managed to contact beautiful women under 30 years old who wanted to go abroad for work.

She then prodded them into going to Malaysia by lying to them that she could find them well-paid jobs in cafeterias or restaurants.

Investigations showed that in mid-August 2013, Hoa promised two women, named H. and P., both from southern Kien Giang Province, that she could arrange for them to work at a Chinese-owned café in Malaysia at a monthly salary of over VND6 million.

Hoa told her potential victims they she would carry out all procedures related to their trip to Malaysia and cover all relevant costs in advance.

H. and P. agreed to Hoa’s plan and then introduced four other women to her. She also assured them that they would have good jobs in Malaysia.

After their arrival in Malaysia, H., P., and the four women were sent to a karaoke bar, where all of them were forced to have sex with guests and anyone who refused to do so would be beaten and left in hunger.

For every sex session, these women were paid nearly VND3 million ($139) by their clients but the entire money had to be submitted to the bar owner, who at the end of every month gave each sex worker a sum equal to 50 percent of the total amount she had been paid by her guests, according to Phap Luat TPHCM (Ho Chi Minh City Law) newspaper.

When any sex workers wanted to return to Vietnam, their families were asked to pay a ransom in return for their release.

From August 2013 to their arrest, Hoa and Hie sent dozens of Vietnamese women to Malaysia for prostitution.

Police are further investigating the case to track down others involved in the scam.