VZCZCXRO7664
RR RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHHM #0090 0250357
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 250357Z JAN 07
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2051
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 1481
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 2216

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000090 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL CVIS KWMN TIP ELAB SMIG SOCI TW VM
SUBJECT: POLICE BUST MALAYSIA-LINKED TIP GANGS IN HCMC AND MEKONG 
DELTA 
 
REF: 06 HCMC 437 
 
¶1. (SBU) On January 17, we called the senior HCMC Ministry 
of Public Security official in charge of trafficking in 
persons to discuss HCMC press reports that police broke up 
two criminal rings trafficking Vietnamese women to Malaysia 
for prostitution.  According to the official, on January 
10, police in Hau Giang Province in the Mekong Delta 
arrested four individuals for trafficking at least thirty 
Vietnamese women.  Two of the suspects were from the Mekong 
Delta city of Can Tho, one from the Central Highlands 
province of Lam Dong Province, and one from Hau Giang. The 
alleged ring leader, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Nga, was not among 
those arrested.  According to our contact, Nga resides in 
Malaysia and periodically travels to Vietnam to recruit 
young Vietnamese girls from the Mekong Delta region. 
Vietnam Interpol has issued an international arrest warrant 
for Nga and the GVN is working to secure the repatriation 
of victims in Malaysia. 
 
¶2. (SBU) According to the MPS official, the police were 
able to act after five trafficking victims who escaped in 
Malaysia returned to Vietnam and filed reports with local 
authorities.  These women reported that at least another 
twenty five women were trafficked to Malaysia. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The second set of arrests occurred in HCMC on 
January 16 and led to the arrest of a ringleader Quan Chi 
Phat and his accomplice Hua Hue Muoi, both ethnic Chinese 
Vietnamese residents of HCMC.  Phat was the ringleader, 
whose cousin (nationality unknown) in Malaysia coordinated 
operations on that end.  The traffickers enticed their 
targets with offers of overseas jobs that claimed to pay as 
much as USD 1,000 per month.  The women traveled to 
Malaysia as tourists.  During the search of the 
traffickers' homes, police reportedly found numerous 
documents belonging to the victims, including their 
Vietnamese identification cards.  According to our police 
contact, the ringleaders confessed to trafficking thirty 
women in 2003, but the investigation is ongoing to examine 
if other, more recent, trafficking crimes were committed. 
 
¶4. (SBU) According to the MPS official, most of the victims 
of this ring were forced into sex work upon their arrival 
in Malaysia.  Malaysian brothels reportedly paid the ring 
USD 8,000 for each woman.  However, MPS officials noted 
that their initial inquiries suggested that at least some 
of the women found regular jobs on the local economy or 
married Malaysians of their own volition. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The MPS official said that police were able to act 
after some victims stepped forward.  Ten of the victims 
apparently refused to "accept their fates."  They were able 
to contact relatives in Vietnam who, in turn, sought out 
ringleader Quan Chi Phat.  He allegedly charged the 
relatives USD 1,000 each to secure the women's return. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Comment: We are seeking meetings with MPS 
officials in HCMC, Can Tho and Hau Giang to follow up on 
these cases.  From what we have gleaned thus far, they 
appear similar to a March 2006 series of arrests (reftel), 
in which HCMC police rescued up to 39 women who were about 
to be trafficked internationally, principally to Malaysia. 
The new arrests confirm that law enforcement authorities in 
southern Vietnam are focusing more intently on combating 
trafficking.  In previous discussions, however, police have 
complained that a lack of training and resources has 
limited their ability to investigate trafficking cases as 
effectively as they would like.  These two cases, which 
only could be cracked after some of the victims stepped 
forward, seem to support the police's contention that they 
could do more with additional support.  End Comment. 
 
WINNICK