Three ASEAN neighbors - Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam - are facing increasing problems of transnational human trafficking, with more and more women from Vietnam crossing the border into Laos to work in the sex trade while an increasing number of Lao women go to Thailand to do the same thing.

A Clear evidence of the problem surfaced when Vietnamese police in Cuong Chi province arrested two Vietnamese women and a Vietnamese man at a border checkpoint with Laos. The man turned out to be a member of a human trafficking ring trying to take the women to a Vietnamese-run brothel in Pakse, the capital of Laos' Champassack province.

Child trafficking, a $10-billion a year industry

Acting on the information provided by Vietnamese authorities, Lao officials raided the brothel and arrested 11 prostitutes from Vietnam.

Thai authorities say an equally increasing number of Lao girls and women cross the border into Thailand to work in the sex trade.

Listen to our audio files for more details.