Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Trâm at Lạng Sơn Province's Chi Ma border point. — VNA/VNS Photo Quang Duy

LẠNG SƠN — Border guards in northern Lạng Sơn Province caught a man and a woman trying to cross into China with a newborn baby on Sunday, in an effort likely put a stop to a human trafficking case.

Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Trâm, 22, from Mekong Delta Đồng Tháp Province and Ngô Duy Khanh, 28, of southern Long An Province, were apprehended at the province's border district of Lộc Bình, vietnamplus.vn reported.

They told the border guards they were a couple and the male infant they were carrying was not Trâm's child.

They said they received the newborn from a woman named Châu at Long Khánh General Hospital in southern  Đồng Nai Province and gave over VNĐ10 million (US$425) to Châu to make the baby's birth certificate with the names of his parents, Trâm and Khanh.

The infant will be taken to an unidentified man in China, in return for VNĐ50 million ($2,130), the couple confessed.

Authorities have sent the child to a local social protection centre and are investigating further. — VNS