Three Chinese nationals were sentenced this week by a court in China’s Lishui city for illegally trafficking 41 Cambodian women for arranged marriages last year, state news agency Xinhua reported yesterday.

Wu Chi, 34, Wu Lake, 38, and Yemou Fei, 39, were given a two-year custodial sentence and up to $30,000 in fines.

The three defendants procured visas illegally from the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh for the 41 women, who were then smuggled across the Chinese border between December 2012 and June 2013, the court was told.

The companies the three established, Trinidad Ryoen Marriage Agency and Akin, received photos of potential suitors for the trafficked women through a website, which were then matched with Cambodian women who were seeking work in China, the report said.

Chinese embassy officials had not responded to requests for comment by press time.