Traffickers pull tribal women into China for husbands, work  Luu Thang Village, in the central province of Nghe An, where 51 women have reportedly left home for work, mostly in China / PHOTO: KHANH HOAN Dozens of women from remote villages in the central province of Nghe An are believed to have left home for husbands or work in China, either on their own accord or as a result of being trafficked. Located along mountain slopes in Ky Son District's Chieu Luu Commune, Luu Thang Village is home to 120 Kho Mu households. These days most of the residents there are children and the elderly; able-bodied adults have all left seeking work. Cut Thanh Son, the village chief, told Thanh Nien that 51 women, most of whom were unmarried, have left Luu Thang. Many have been gone for two or three years without contacting their families. Son said at least five local married women were confirmed to have re-married in China since 2010; his daughter-in-law was among them. He said she left the family four years ago, leaving behind a two year old son. She did not return until last year, with news that she had married and had a child in China. In another case, Luong Thi Hoa left for China in 2010, after her husband fell ill and her family sank into poverty. After she left, her husband’s condition deteriorated and he died, leaving their three children between the ages of 6-12 to fend for themselves, according to the village chief who added that the kids later left without telling anyone where they were going. Cut Thi Kham was reported missing after leaving home three years ago at 17. Kham’s grandfather Moong Pho Hanh believed that she was in China like many others. Cut Thi Mi, the 19-year-old daughter of Cut Van Song, also left home last April. Song said Mi left with a local resident who'd promised her a good salary at a factory in the south. A few months later his daughter called from China saying that she'd been drugged and sold to a man in the Chinese countryside. The father said he reported her fate to police who have been unable to determine her whereabouts. Four years earlier, Song’s daughter-in-law Moong Thi Duc also followed a stranger to find a job. She too ended up being sent to China, where she was forced to marry a local man, Song said. In nearby La Ngan Village, many women have also been reported missing. Three girls between the ages of 16 and 17 took the advice of a group of unidentified people and left for work in 2003, only to end up being trafficked to China. Moong Van Doan, secretary of Chieu Luu Commune’s Party Unit, said that nearly 20 local women were confirmed to have married in China. Poverty has driven local women to work away from home, and in many cases, they end up being trafficked to China, where they're forced into marriages with native men, Doan said. Nguyen Van De, chief of Ky Son District’s Police Division, admitted that it was “very hard” to curb trafficking rings funneling women to China. There are not enough jobs for young people, so they're at great risk of being trapped by human traffickers, he said. Local police talk to locals about the risk, but many of them respond that their children have no other way of earning a living, according to De. Ky Son police reported that last year they busted seven trafficking rings moving people to China and arrested nine suspects. Many of the suspects were once victims of human trafficking themselves, police said. Police rescued 15 people from China; another 12 have returned by themselves. In the nearby Tuong Duong District, 1,216 people have left local villages for work, most of them women, and some 476 of them have gone to China, according to local police. Khanh Hoan, Thanh Nien News