Six trafficked Myanmar young women have been saved and repatriated back from China following a joint combating of human trafficking crime by special squads of both sides, according to the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control Sunday.

The six were handed over by the Ruili anti-human trafficking special squad of China to Myanmar's Muse squad recently, the sources said.

A total of 13 men brokers and seven women brokers of two human trafficking gangs were also arrested in Ruili, a border town opposite to Myanmar's Muse, the sources said.

The trafficked women were quoted as saying that they were smuggled in different ways including persuading them to work in a garment factory in China, while others being forced to marry citizens of that country.

According to the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, a total of 686 victims smuggled out of Myanmar have been rescued and brought back to the country as of 2008 and they were being kept at the rehabilitation centers.

Myanmar has so far set up border liaison offices in Muse and in Tachilek, Myawaddy and Kawthoung bordering Thailand to promote cooperation in cracking down on human trafficking.

Coordination is also being made for the move involving the UNODC and UN Inter Agency Project (UNIPA) on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

The government has so far built eight rehabilitation centers offering educational program and vocational skill training for the victims.

In the latest development, Myanmar is also planning to set up temporary care center at the Muse for the victims with the help of GGA organization of Japan in November this year.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2009)