Hanoi - Police in southern Vietnam arrested two men for plotting to sell a boy to a cafe owner, telling her the child could fetch a high price from a foreign couple looking to adopt, a police official said Monday.

"We are trying to trace Ty's family but it is very hard because he could not remember anything about his parents, his full name or where he lived," said Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Song of the Tan Phu District police department in Ho Chi Minh City.

"He only said he was about 6 years old."

Police arrested Mach Trac Thanh, 25, and his brother, Mach Tai Vy, 20, on November 20 as they were trying to sell the boy to a café owner for 208 dollars. The brothers told the owner, Doan Thi Bich Chi, that she could resell the boy, known only as Ty, to foreigners seeking to adopt.

Ty was apparently living on the streets when the brothers found him begging near the Ba Queo market, the People's Police newspaper reported.

The brothers had gone to the market to pick up their younger brother, who was also begging. They took the two boys home last Wednesday and worked out a plan to sell Ty, the report said.

The next day they approached the owner of the Sapa café. The paper said that Chi the owner pretended to bargain for the boy while she tipped off police. By the time the police arrived, they had settled on a price of 90 dollars.

The boy is in the care of social services in Ho Chi Minh City. (dpa)