China police raids rescue 1,100 trafficked women

Chinese police rescued 1,130 abducted foreign women in the second half of last year in coordinated operations with five Southeast Asian countries, the Ministry of Public Security said Friday.

Police arrested 1,322 suspects, including 262 foreigners, for allegedly luring and kidnapping women after promising jobs or marriages, the ministry said, in what appears to be the largest such operation to date.

"In recent years, some lawless locals and foreigners have conspired to abduct women from neighbouring countries and sell them as wives in China," public security spokesman Guo Lin said at a news conference in Beijing.

"It's a serious violation of these women's rights and interests."