Vietnam police bust Malaysia sex trafficking ring: report

HANOI, Feb 1, 2008 (AFP) - Vietnamese police have arrested four people accused of trafficking scores of young women from the poverty-stricken Mekong Delta to work as prostitutes in Malaysia, state media reported Friday.

The ring, based in southern Can Tho city, had allegedly moved more than 20 women since 2006, the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported, quoting municipal Crime Investigation Police Department director Nguyen Thanh Nha.

Police said the gang had promised the women they would work as well-paid waitresses in Malaysia, organising their passports and flights, but then trapped them as sex workers who had to service about 10 clients a day.

The women were locked up, beaten and starved if they refused to prostitute themselves, the VNA report said, quoting Crime Investigation Police Department deputy director Huynh Van Thach