In an effort to be discreet, two Korean men and two Korean brokers met with potential wives inside the car park of the Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ho Chi Minh City.
To avoid being noticed, the illegal matchmaking brokerage between the Korean men and 18 Vietnamese girls was arranged at the airport however, all subjects who participated were discovered and arrested by police.
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| The two matchmakers Quyen and Nguyet were arrested. |
According to initial reports, at about 3p.m on March 15, detectives from the Public Security’s Investigate Police Department (PC14) routinely came in and looked around the car park area. The police then busted a group of 4 Korean men and 18 Vietnamese girls.
The broker group consisted of, Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet (32), Pham Thi Quyen (32) and Pham Thanh Tung (34, from Binh Duong Province). Nguyet was the group leader who mobilised all the “brides” and Tung in charge of finding foreign “grooms”.
Among the 4 Korean men arrested, there were 2 “grooms” Cho Hyeongeun (39) and Kim Beomsik (47), as well as 2 brokers, Kim Okdo and Kim Yeong Sull (both 48). The 18 Vietnamese girls came from Cuu Long River Delta provinces.
On the morning of March 15, Nguyet directed her inferiors to hire a 16-seat car to District Eleven, District 8, Binh Tan, Tan Phu and Binh Chanh Districts in Ho Chi Minh City to collect the girls. They drove at high-speeds and circled around many roads in order to erase their traces.
The subjects seem to have had a lot of experience in organising illegal marriage brokering and Tan Son Nhat Airport’s car park was chosen to be the matchmaking location this time.
Each Korean groom pays a total of USD 4,000 for one successful marriage deal. This amount then would be divided up between the brokers, with USD 1,600 for the Korean brokers and USD 1,500 for the Vietnamese ones. Each girl only received about VND 3 million (156 USD) after all the costs such as car hire have been deducted.
It was reported that on March 15, the police in Tan Binh District was setting up files for more than 20 subjects that related to this illegal marriage brokerage and will continue to further investigate the matter.
