Lò Thị Nguyệt (middle) was arrested for allegedly trafficking a newborn baby to China. — Photo vov.vn

LẠNG SƠN — Border guards in northern Lạng Sơn Province have arrested a girl for allegedly trafficking a newborn baby to China, online newspaper news.zing.vn has reported.

Lò Thị Nguyệt, 21, from the northern mountainous province of Sơn La, was arrested when she was illegally taking a seven-day old baby to cross the border to China.

She told the border guards that she had received a phone call from a strange person who asked her to go to Lạng Sơn Province to get a baby about seven days old and related documents.

Nguyệt agreed to take the baby to China and give the child to a Chinese man for a VNĐ15 million (US$650) payment.

She was arrested by border guards at the Hữu Nghị International Border Gate while trying to cross the border illegally.  

The case is under further investigation.

The baby is being taken care of by a social welfare centre in Lạng Sơn.

From 2016 to June 2019, over 1,000 human trafficking cases were discovered across the country, with nearly 1,500 violators and over 2,600 victims, according to the Ministry of Public Security. Of the victims, 890 people were sold to China. —VNS