The General Department of Police handed four kidnapped Chinese children over to the Ho Chi Minh City-based Chinese Consulate at International Tan Son Nhat Airport on May 16.

The four children, three boys and a girl, aged between nine and 14, boarded a plane at 9:30 am the same day to fly to Guangzhou, China, for family reunion.

The children were kidnapped in Zhejiang province, China, on May 5. They were rescued by Vietnamese police last week in Ho Chi Minh City where they were about to be smuggled to a third country.

The four children were victims of a trans-national human trafficking ring, which had purchased nearly 50 Chinese children in an attempt to smuggle them through Vietnam into third countries, said Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Viet Thanh, Deputy Chief of the General Department of Police.

Chinese Consul General Gao Deke expressed her thanks to the Vietnamese police for the rescue of the four kidnapped children. She said that she wanted China and Vietnam to strengthen their co-operation in combating human trafficking crimes.