The arrests come amid a crackdown on trafficking following a fresh outbreak of COVID-19 cases in central Vietnam.

VnExpress reports that police in Da Nang arrested Gao Liang Gu, a Chinese national, on Saturday night. He is believed to be the leader of trafficking ring which illegally brought Chinese citizens into Da Nang and neighboring Quang Nam Province.

Authorities in the region recently found 73 Chinese people who had entered the country illegally in separate incidents, prompting Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to order the Ministry of Public Security to investigate these occurrences.

Also on Saturday, police in Quang Ninh Province detained six people for bringing Chinese into Vietnam illegally. A total of 12 Chinese nationals had been brought in by the group at a cost of US$570 per person.

These arrests come as Vietnam has detected four cases of COVID-19 community transmission over the last three days, the first such known infections in 99 days. Three of the patients tested positive in Da Nang, while the fourth tested in Quang Ngai Province.

At the time of writing, the sources of these infections has not been determined, and it is important to note that no link between these cases and the Chinese nationals who entered illegally has been established.

[Photo: Gao Liang Gu after his arrest. Photo via VnExpress/Anh Dung]