Two Chinese nationals were charged in Stung Treng yesterday for allegedly attempting to illegally traffic two Cambodian women to China for marriage, police said.

Zhu Yulian, a 45-year-old woman, and Huang Wenix, 46, a businessman, were arrested on Saturday after one of the victims escaped and alerted border police at the Trapeang Kreal border crossing with Laos.

Pien Peuy, deputy chief of the provincial anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection force, said the 19- and 23-year-old victims, who are both residents of Kampong Cham’s Kang Meas district, had been promised factory jobs in China by the suspects, who charged them $400 each to act as their brokers.

“After that, when they arrived at the border, they knew that they were being brought to marry Chinese people.… That is why one of them escaped, prompting the police to arrest [the two suspects],” he said.

The 23-year-old returned to her family while the 19-year-old was moved to Phnom Penh, where she is receiving vocational training from a local NGO.