Hanoi - Nine people were arrested in southern Vietnam for allegedly smuggling people to Australia, a police official said on Monday.
“We arrested four people this month and will arrest another person involved in the case. Nine people have been arrested in total,” Do Toi Sung, deputy director of Ba Ria Vung Tau provincial police, said.
The group helped more than 120 people go to Australia between May 2010 and May 2011 in three groups, he said. They are all charged with “organising illegal immigration of people abroad.”
The emigrants paid up to 7 100 dollars for passage aboard a fishing boat, according to Tuoi Tre newspaper.
The journeys took about two weeks, but Australian authorities detained each of the boats and about 30 passengers have already been sent back to Vietnam. The rest are in detention, the report said. - Sapa-dpa