A Taiwanese man and five Vietnamese have been jailed for between five and 12 years for trafficking more than 120 Vietnamese women to Malaysia, a court official said Friday in the communist country.

The victims were sold as wives to Malaysian men for US$1,500 to US$2,000 each, then re-sold after their arrival, some to work as prostitutes, for US$4,200 to US$6,400 per woman, Ho Chi Minh City People's Court was told.

Vietnamese police were also investigating additional illegal marriages brokered by the ring with Taiwanese and South Korean men, court official Nguyen Thi Hong told AFP after Thursday's verdict.

"This is the largest trans-national women's trafficking network to be broken up by Vietnamese police," Hong said. "We have punished the defendants severely because they have seriously harmed the dignity of Vietnamese women."

126 known trafficking cases

The court handed a 12-year sentence to ring-leader Tran Thi My Phuong, 35, and jailed her Taiwanese husband Tsai Hsien, 46, for seven years. The couple had brokered the sales via houses in Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur.

Their accomplice Phan Thi Hong Yen, 35, received 10 years' jail; Tieu Lien Huu, 37, and Phan Van Long, 44, were sentenced to six years' prison each; and Nguyen Van Cuong, 35, received a five year prison term.

The 126 known cases of trafficking to Malaysia took place between April 2005 and March 2006, when the Taiwanese man was arrested.

Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last month urged local authorities to raise awareness and make every effort to prevent woman and child trafficking in the country, especially in border areas with China and Cambodia.