SHINGAI: Chinese authorities have busted a smuggling ring that sold young Burmese girls to old single Chinese men for marriage, sources said here the other day.
Yunnan authorities have been aware of the issue since August 2014. As many as 37 suspects, including two ring leaders surnamed Tang and Yang, have been arrested. The young women were sold to single men living in Henan, Shandong and Anhui provinces.
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The website set up by the men lured their lonely olders buyers with by writing that “while Chinese wives would cheat on you, Burmese women would only cost you 20,000 yuan (US$3,200).”
China Central Television (CCTV) reported that a suspect confessed to having smuggled over 50 Burmese girls into China, and that the criminal ring had smuggled over 100. The women had to be transported on special buses that went straight to Kunming city, before moving on to Henan province.
The China-Myanmar border is reportedly poorly secured so it was fairly easy easy for smugglers to bring the women over.
The women were sold for prices ranging between 30,000-50,000 yuan (US$4,800-$8,000). Most were lie to, being told that they would receive jobs once in China or be introduced to a husband.
Police in China have freed 177 women and under-aged girls who had been illegally taken and sold off. Some have since returned to Myanmar while others have settled with living in China. Some of the women, however, were found to have taken part in the criminal ring operations, helping to lure the Burmese women into China.
Beijing Times said it was common to see old and single Chinese men in rural regions do such thing because they could not afford to marry, due to unequal economical development in different parts of the country. This would lead them to seek out a Southeast Asian woman with less money.
