The Appeal Court yesterday upheld the sentence of a Chinese woman to seven years in jail for attempting to traffic two Cambodian women to China for marriage.

The court reported that Ju Y Lean, 45, came from China to Cambodia in 2013. She soon found a Cambodian woman selling fruit at a market in Phnom Penh and asked her to find two women for her, claiming they would be taught to manufacture umbrellas in China.

“Later on, the market seller became a bride broker and found two women for the accused Chinese woman,” the court report reads.

In September 2013, the two victims were brought to a guesthouse in Phnom Penh and then sent to Stung Treng province, where they attempted to cross into Laos in a bid to eventually enter China.

It was during the border crossing that one of the would-be brides managed to escape. She eventually alerted authorities to Y Lean’s activities, and she was arrested shortly afterwards.

Last year, 82 Cambodian women were repatriated from China after being tricked into marrying Chinese men, according to the Foreign Ministry.