Women ‘tricked into Chinese wedlock’
UDON THANI: Provincial police are looking into whether the case of a woman who allegedly fell for a Chinese marriage scam should be considered as a human trafficking case.
Pol Maj Gen Pitsanu Unhaseree, commander of Udon Thani Provincial Police, on Friday said an officer was assigned to initially investigate claims that a 31-year-old woman, identified as Nuch, and three others were tricked into marrying Chinese men.
They were said to be persuaded by a matchmaker, identified as Da, to marry Chinese men for 100,000-baht dowries with a condition to become pregnant in the first six months.
However, the victims were said to have stayed in China as servants or even their father-in-laws’ second wives after the babies were delivered.
Nuch, who is from the province’s Nong Wua So district, first told the media on Thursday about the marriage scam. She said she and three other Thai women were able to leave China and arrive in Thailand last month due to her mother’s help.
She said she decided to tell her story because she wanted her case to be a lesson for other Thai women. Nuch said she married 32-year-old Chinese national Jin Wei Lian less than three days after their matchmaking before moving to China’s Hubei province.
She said she told the matchmaker before meeting her husband that she was unable to bear children, but the marriage went ahead regardless. She said she was kept in a house and was assaulted by her husband and her mother-in-law for not becoming pregnant.
She said she was assaulted for three years before she decided to flee to Thailand along with three other victims of the scam.
Pol Maj Gen Pitsanu said the case cannot yet be considered a human trafficking case yet as the marriage registration and contract were legally done.
“Investigators are now in the process of gathering more evidence and questioning all the victims and the matchmaker,” he said.
Pol Col Suraphong Charttisut, deputy commander of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division, said both parties consented while the contract was made, therefore the case may not be classified as human trafficking.
The matchmaker’s actions may also not be considered human trafficking, he said, adding more details will need to be investigated.