Woman jailed for facilitating illegal entry of Chinese

A court in Hanoi on Thursday handed the jail term to Tran Thi Phuong Thao, a native of northern Phu Tho Province that borders the city, for "organizing illegal entry to Vietnam."

On the same charge, her Chinese boyfriend, Oi Guo Pei, 25, and her friend Dinh Thi Hue, respectively.

Thao is a Chinese-language student in Hanoi. She and Pei started their relationship last April.

Later, via a Chinese man identified only by his last name, Wang, the couple started helping facilitate illegal entry from China.

Thao asked Hue to sign papers to rent two condos in Hanoi's Thanh Xuan District, telling the landlords the apartments were for Vietnamese.

In April, Pei let 16 Chinese nationals, who had entered Vietnam illegally, stay at the two apartments. He also stayed in one of them.

Police busted the operation and found the illegal immigrants on April 20.

Thao got VND40 million from the deal, and Hue, VND2 million.

Pei told the court he wanted to stay in Vietnam to be with his girlfriend and find a job, and that he had earned nothing from the business.

Data from the Hanoi Police Department said in the first half of this year, city the authorities have prosecuted 14 cases with 22 defendants for the crime of "organizing illegal entry into Vietnam." Of the defendants, eight are foreigners.