Cambodian and Vietnamese authorities this week repatriated three women who were in Ho Chi Minh City about to be trafficked to China.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Wednesday reported that three Cambodian women were repatriated from Vietnam that morning. The women from Takeo, Prey Veng and Kandal provinces were being trafficked to China by a “broker” to marry Chinese men.

The women, said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Chum Sounry, were in a Ho Chi Minh City guesthouse “to wait for the arrangement of their trip to China”. He said the rescue was the product of cooperation between the Cambodian consulate in Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnamese authorities.

According to Kim Chenda, chief of the National Police’s anti-human trafficking department, Vietnam and Myanmar are increasingly used as transit countries for brokers trafficking Cambodian brides to China as a result of increased cooperation between Chinese and Cambodian authorities.

“The border is so long, [brokers] can use many ways” to avoid facing border authorities, said Chenda.