Three Chinese nationals and two Cambodians were tried at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday over allegations that they had acted as brokers in a bid to sell off four Cambodian women to Chinese grooms.

Presiding judge Kor Vandy said Chinese men Xie Tao Seng, 50, and Huy De Hua, 35, along with Chinese woman Zhou Yanping, 42, were charged with the attempted sale, purchase or exchange of a person. Cambodian Vong Nita, 40, and his wife E Livhourn, 35, were charged with providing fake documents.

“In December 2014, Xie Tao Seng gave $3,000 to Huy De Hua as a fee for recruiting two young Cambodian girls to travel to marry Chinese men in China. And Huy De Huan chose two young girls,” Vandy said.

Nita and Livhourn allegedly created a fake passport for one of two woman they had recruited who lacked documentation, he added. The suspects were arrested in Phnom Penh, en route to Thailand, via Poipet, police said.

The five admitted yesterday to planning to send the women to China, but insisted they hadn’t done it for profit, and said that the women had agreed to go willingly.