HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- A court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced six people to prison for luring more than 120 women to Malaysia, where most were sold to elderly and disabled men, a judge said Friday.

Tran Thi My Phuong was sentenced to 12 years in jail for human trafficking, said presiding judge Tran Thi Hong Viet. Her Taiwanese husband Tsai I Hsein was given seven years, and four others received five to 10 years at a one-day trial Thursday, said presiding judge Tran Thi Hong Viet.

The ring members were convicted of trafficking 126 Vietnamese women to Malaysia between April 2005 and June last year, she said.

Viet said the ring members had promised the victims, mostly from the southwestern region, help finding husbands in Malaysia. They were instead sold to a broker in Malaysia for US$1,500 (euro1,100) to US$2,000 (euro1,500), depending on their age and beauty, she said.

The women were put on sale at bars in Malaysia for as much as US$6,300 (euro4,600) , she said, adding most potential buyers were elderly or disabled men.

More than 10 of the victims had managed to escape and return to Vietnam, and reported the case to police, Viet said.

At the court, the defendants maintained that they just wanted to help the women find husbands in Malaysia, but the court determined that their actions constituted woman trafficking, a crime which carries a maximum jail term of 20 years.

Thousands of Vietnamese women have been sold to China and some Southeast Asian nations for sex slaves and forced marriages.