VietNamNet Bridge – An investigation at the Bo De Pagoda in Long Bien District in Hanoi will be expanded after a caretaker of orphans at the pagoda was arrested on Monday on allegations of selling children.

The two women who were arrested on Monday, Trang (right) and Nguyet.

The authorities of Long Bien district have also formed two inspection teams to check Bo De Pagoda, located at the foot of the Long Bien Bridge. It is known as a place where orphans, abandoned children or homeless seniors can reside for free.

The one-week inspections started on Tuesday. After the inspections, the local government will make decisions on the fate of the orphans at the pagoda.

Earlier, the police launched an investigation in response to some reports that Bo De Pagoda has become an "intermediate channel" for selling orphans to people who want to adopt.

Currently, the pagoda is home to 112 orphans, abandoned and disabled children, 53 helpless old people and 48 homeless women.

Long Bien district’s Vice Chair Vu Thu Ha said the inspections are independent from Hanoi Police’s investigation of the baby selling allegations. The inspections aim to strengthen state management over the pagoda’s operations, particularly its orphanage.

Hanoi police on August 3 arrested two women for allegedly selling a nine-month-old baby from Bo De Pagoda. One of the detainees is Nguyen Thi Thanh Trang, 37, the caretaker of the children supported by the pagoda, and the other is Pham Thi Nguyet, 35, a woman from northern Ninh Binh Province.

The women have been charged with "trading in, fraudulently exchanging or appropriating children". Three others have been questioned over the same allegation.

The boy was found in front of the pagoda in 2013. A couple who often visited the pagoda agreed to be godparents to the boy and named him Cu Nguyen Cong. Then he disappeared in 2014. Investigations show that Trang and Nguyet sold Cong for VND35 million (US$1,650).

The investigation showed that Trang concealed information about the baby. She told the pagoda’s chief monk Thich Dam Lan that the boy was her nephew.

Police investigated the child selling allegations at the Bo De Pagoda after the HCM City Women Newspaper published a reportage on the situation.

Thich Dam Lan, the pagoda's chief monk, meanwhile, rejected the allegation. Operating costs for the pagoda, she said, are met mainly with donations from benefactors and visitors.

While investigators look into the adoption sale allegations, visitors and volunteers coming to the pagoda have raised concerns about living conditions for the children there.

Bo De Pagoda, which was built in the early 18th century and is surrounded by green trees, has been well-maintained for years. But accommodations for their neediest residents are a different story, say visitors and volunteers.

Dang Van Bat, deputy director of the Hanoi's Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said the pagoda doesn't have a license to run such a center. He said according to the law, when a centre has over 10 children, orphaned, abandoned or homeless, it must submit an application to establish a social protection center.

The Long Bien District's authority has sent staff to assist the pagoda with the application process, but it has not finished the paperwork.

The chief monk has admitted that the pagoda could not meet the criteria for establishing a social protection center. Nevertheless, the center was created "out of love for the children", she said.

At a press conference held by Hanoi Police yesterday, the police said that the chief monk Thich Dam Lan would be also investigated.

The lives of orphans in Bo De Pagoda

Compiled by Binh An