Authorities arrested several people in An Giang Province that borders Cambodia in September for brokering illegal exit from Vietnam.

The alleged perpetrators, Nguyen Khac Manh, 34, Nguyen Van Khoa, 29, Hoang Van Thanh, 24, and Nguyen Ngoc Thao and Phan Sy Dung, both 27, have been recommended to be charged with robbery and kidnapping by the police of An Giang.

Le Duy Cuong has been recommended to be charged with murder, robbery and kidnapping.

They had smuggled five people from northern Vietnam to Cambodia through the border in An Giang in August last year, promising to then bring them to Taiwan to work illegally.

However, once they reached Cambodia, the five were detained and taken to a house in Kandal Province, where all of their belongings, including phone and cash, were taken.

Thanh, Dung, Thao and certain other people then tortured the victims, and the process was recorded on the phone by Thanh. The torture footage was sent to the families of victims to demand ransoms.

The family of one victim failed to deliver the ransom, so the perpetrators hit the victim in the head, resulting in their death.

After the families of three other victims sent around VND500 million ($19,760), Manh’s group took the money and disappeared. The four surviving victims then escaped their bondage, returned to Vietnam through An Giang and requested authorities for help.

The police said Khoa and his accomplices also took VND70 million from the victims in stolen belongings.