Officers at Lao Bao International Border Gate on the border of Laos and Vietnam's Quang Tri Province on Friday transferred 11 Chinese and five Vietnamese to the province's police department for further investigation.
Border guards caught Le Ngoc Quy, 27, a resident in Lao Bao Town of Quang Tri's Huong Hoa District, taking four Chinese, aged 20-28, across the border into Laos at around 11 p.m. on Nov. 19.
From Quy, they tracked down Le Anh, 50, another Huong Hoa resident. Hoa has been helping Quy to take Chinese to Laos.
Expanding their investigation, border guards then arrested Tran Van Bac, 39, a resident in northern Nam Dinh Province, when he was driving seven Chinese people to Quang Tri the same day. All the Chinese had illegally entered Vietnam and were on their way to Laos.
On the morning of Nov. 20, they arrested Ho Thi Van, 48, a resident in Huong Hoa District who had been identified as the mastermind of the smuggling ring.
Colonel Le Van Phuong, head of Quang Tri’s border guards, said from Vietnam, the Chinese would break into Laos and then Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.
Their motivation remains unclear.