The alleged ringleader Đinh Quốc Hoàng. — Photo cand.vn

HÀ NỘI — Police have dismantled a ring that bought and sold girls under the age of 16 and forced them to work as karaoke hostesses to pay off fabricated debts, freeing 46 women and girls and charging eight people, the Ministry of Public Security said on Wednesday.

The ring was allegedly led by Đinh Quốc Hoàng, 41, owner of the Kimochi karaoke bar in Hà Nội, who has two previous convictions for causing intentional injury and a prior penalty for public disorder.

Police raided karaoke bars and lodging houses where hostesses were kept across several provinces and cities on September 20.

In Hà Nội, they rescued 34 hostesses, 12 of them under 16. Seven more were freed from a bar in Ninh Bình and five from another in Lào Cai.

Investigators said Hoàng and his associates had been trafficking people under 16 since 2025, passing girls between bars for up to VNĐ30 million (US$1,156) each and telling them they had to work off the price paid for them.

Nguyễn Hà Thành, who has a prior conviction for resisting officers on duty, and Nguyễn Bá Giang housed the girls and ferried them to bars, while Lừ Văn Tâm managed Kimochi, police said.

One victim, a girl born in 2012 in the northern province of Cao bằng, answered a Facebook post by a user calling himself 'Phạm Tuấn' that advertised jobs paying up to VNĐ15 million ($578) monthly.

The man took her to a karaoke bar in the port city of Hài Phòng and handed her to its manager, Trần Văn Tình, in exchange for VNĐ10 million ($385). Tình showed her the receipt, told her she had been sold, and said she would have to stay and work off the debt.

The next day, Hoàng collected her. On the drive to Hà Nội, he told her he had paid Tình VNĐ30 million, then put her to work at Kimochi, where she had to serve customers in private rooms every day, pouring beer and choosing songs.

About three months later, Hoàng sold her to Thành for VNĐ30 million. Thành took her to a lodging house for hostesses and filmed her saying she had borrowed that amount from him and would work in karaoke bars to repay it, a fictitious debt police said was used to keep her under his control.

Police have not identified the person behind the 'Phạm Tuấn' account.

Two other girls, one born in 2009 in Lào Cai and the other born in 2012 in Hà Nội, were drawn in through friends on social media with promises of well-paid karaoke work.

The older girl had worked for Tình since February 2025, moving between bars in Hưng Yên and Bắc Ninh before ending up at his Hải Phòng bar. The younger girl arrived there in December and was given food and a place to sleep but no wages.

In February, Tình sold both girls to Hoàng for VNĐ29 million and VNĐ14 million. About a week after arriving at Kimochi, the younger girl was threatened with a beating by Hoàng's staff and asked to leave, but was refused.

Hoàng then sold both girls to Đặng Vũ Hải, owner of a karaoke bar in Lào Cai, for roughly what he had paid, and they were again forced to work off their 'debts.'

Those charged with trafficking people under 16 include Hoàng, Tình, Thành and the owners of the Ninh Bình and Lào Cai bars. Police said they were widening the investigation to track down others involved. — VNS