Two women that were sold as brides to men in China were rescued by anti-trafficking police and a civil society organisation in Muse in northern Shan State.

The women were sold to brokers by their boyfriends, said Laphai Zau Awng, the secretary of Young Men Christian Association (YMCA). One of the victims called their brother and he called their parents and reported it to the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATIPD) of the police.

In China, the women went to the police, who after arresting the brokers sent them back to Burma.

Burmese police arrested the women’s boyfriends.

The women, ages 18 and 20, are ethnic Kachin and from Ban Muu, located in Kutkai township. They started dating the men after meeting them online, Laphai Zau Awng said.

 “Their boyfriends persuaded the women to let them find them work in China,” he said. They sent them to Kunming, in China’s Yunnan Province, where they were forced to marry Chinese men.

“We heard the two women were sold for 120,000 yuan (est. US$17,000) each.”

 After being rescued, the women are staying at government social housing, Laphai Zau Awng said.

One of them is pregnant.

Police opened a case against the boyfriends at the Kutkai township court.

Since January, ATIPD officers have rescued eight women being trafficked to China by a gang in Muse.

Trafficking of women and men on the border is common, said Naw Paw Eh, who works with an anti-human trafficking group in Muse. "It doesn't matter whether they are educated or not. Anyone could be a victim,” she explained. It’s important to immediately report any information about these crimes to the police, Naw Paw Eh said.

Poverty, unemployment and conflict are all contributing factors of human trafficking, according to human rights activists. Burmese women are usually sold as wives to Chinese men but sometimes they are sold to neighbouring countries for employment or as sex slaves.