A Vietnamese woman and a Chinese man were sentenced to a combined total of 17 years in prison for “brokering others to stay unlawfully in Viet Nam” pursuant to the Vietnamese Penal Code.

The two defendants at the Friday trial

The indictment against the two offenders was announced at the Friday trial at the Da Nang People’s Court, which caught a great deal of local public heed.

The offenders were Cao Nguyen Hong Loan, 32, a resident from Tuyen Hoa District, the central province Quang Binh, along with Wu Yong Can, 31 a Chinese national. Both of them were sentenced to eight years and six months behind bars each for their violations.

According to the indictment, in November 2019, Loan started renting the East Sea hotel located in An Hai Bac Ward, Son Tra District in the name of her fellow countrywoman in order to offer accommodation rentals business. Also, Loan opened the Xiamen restaurant at the hotel to operate catering services. All activities of East Sea hotel and the Xiamen restaurant were managed and operated by Loan.

From 29 June to 17 July , 2020, Loan and Wu Yong Can together made plans to help 27 illegal Chinese migrants stay in the hotel against the laws, and illegally pocketed nearly 93 million VND worth of room fees collected from these border jumpers.

Wu Yong Can created a group chat on WeChat to exchange information with Loan in a bid to help the illegal Chinese dodge police inspection.

By XUAN DUNG – Translated by A.T