Sharing a 240km border with Cambodia, the southern province of Tay Ninh is considered a hotspot for transnational crime, including the trafficking of women and children.

Major Le Van Dam from the Tay Ninh Border Guard said the Moc Bai international border gate nears Cambodia’s bustling Bavet city with ten casinos and nemrous restaurants, hotels, and cafes.

The flow of international tourists through the border gate is very crowded and hence difficult to control, he added.

Since 2012, the gate has handled three human trafficking cases involving seven victims, found through the cooperation of international migration organisations, as well as Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Labour, and Ministry of Youth.

The victims were from southern An Giang, Kien Giang, and Dong Thap provinces, and Can Tho city. They were sold into prostitution in Cambodia, according to Dam.

Most recently in April, police from Tay Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City busted a 44-year-old woman residing in Tay Ninh’s Go Dau district for making procedures at Tan Son Nhat international airport to bring six Cambodian women to Hanoi, with plans that they would be smuggled over the border into China.

The local police have cracked down on a number of human trafficking cases with hundreds of women rescued, according to Major Vo Tan Dung from Tay Ninh police.

However, the ways and tricks of human traffickers have become more sophisticated, professional, and discreet, he said, adding that women from poor rural areas are more vulnerable as victims.

Colonel Ly Hong Sinh, Deputy Director of Tay Ninh’s Police, said over the past five years local police have cracked down on 38 human trafficking rings, seizing 216 people involved and saving 91 victims who were to be sold in Singapore, Malaysia, China, and Thailand.

Police have closely coordinated with the People’s Procuracy and Court to bring these cases into light for strict punishment, he added./.

VNF/VNA