HCMC CRIME NEWS

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December 12 2007 Brief News - Dec. 12 1. Truong Leon, a Vietnamese American who was arrested on November 17 for involvement in a terrorist plot, was deported back to the United States yesterday. (TTXVN) 2. Doan Kim Yen, a 16-year-old girl arrested by HCMC police for selling heroin, apparently committed suicide last week by jumping into a river on her way to the police station. 3. There have been 1,271 traffic accidents in HCMC in the year to date, which have claimed 1,028 lives. (PL) 4.
December 10 2007 Brief News - Dec. 10 1. The Vietnamese Government has decided to buy helicopters and patrol boats to enhance rescue and search operations. Over VND9.3 trillion from the State budget will be pumped into the project.2. HCMC's environment police detained a 12-ton plastic garbage container imported by Kien Thanh Production, Trading and Service Ltd. Co from Canada on Saturday. Inside the container is untreated plastic scrap.3.
December 10 2007 Embezzlement ringleader acquitted on technicality The public was enraged when a court in Quang Binh Central province last week cleared an accused embezzlement mastermind over a technicality. Five men were tried in a week long hearing for embezzling US$28,100 from a malaria project funded by the state and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). The alleged ringleader Vu Thanh Duc, 47, was cleared while the other four received sentences ranging from probation to two and a half years jail.
December 10 2007 Three arrested for stealing VND3.7 bln from employer The Ho Chi Minh City police Tuesday arrested two men and a woman for stealing nearly VND3.7 billion (US$231,000) from their company’s bank account. Nguyen Thi Truc Ly, Bui Trong Phuoc, and Hoang Anh Tung are all employees of Tan Long Phat Joint-Stock Company. Phuoc, the cashier, held the key to the office safe which he gave to Tung last August for stealing a blank check that had been signed by the director.
December 10 2007 Senior Official Arrested for Million-Dollar Fraud Vietnamese police Friday arrested Tran Van Khanh, CEO of State-owned Ha Noi-based Corporation for Agricultural Materials (CAM) for allegedly selling goods to certain private firms and immediately buying them back at higher rates. Tran Van Khanh was led to a police car (Photo: Lao Dong) His deputy, Pham Van Hien was also arrested, both on charges of “corruption and mismanagement of state funds”.
December 10 2007 Leaders of VAT Invoice Fraud Ring Indicted Police yesterday sought indictments against three leaders of a fraud ring trading in VAT invoices to steals billions of dong in VAT refunds from state budgets.
December 10 2007 Hau Giang goes hammer and tongs at graft Hau Giang Province reported Tuesday it has busted seven corruption cases this year involving around VND1.7 billion (US$110,000), and recovered almost all the money. Deputy Chairman of the southern province, Nguyen Van Thang, listed some of them. In one, the director of the Hau Giang Water Supply and Drainage – Urban Project Company had pocketed VND1.4 billion.
December 10 2007 Fake TV Set Maker Discovered in HCMC The Market Management Unit of Tan Phu district, Ho Chi Minh City, yesterday discovered a company making counterfeits of famous brands of television sets like Sony and Samsung. TV parts are found at Hung Nghiep Company’s warehouse yesterday The unit stopped and checked a truck after it had just left Hung Nghiep Company’s warehouse on To Hiep Street, Hiep Tan Ward yesterday and found 200 TV main boards, speakers and covers which didn’t have any legal documents.
November 27 2007 Brief News - November 27 1. Two Vietnamese-American passengers have been detained at Tan Son Nhat Airport for carrying a gun and 13 bullets in their luggage while doing check-in procedures. (VnExpress) 2. A fire broke out at a filling station undergoing repair in the north central province of Ha Tinh yesterday, seriously injuring the head of the station. (VietnamNet) 3.
November 27 2007 Cunning cons: Arrested couple stole $131,000 from gold shops A couple now in custody have confessed to the police they swindled gold shop owners across the country out of a total of US$131,000, police of Tien Giang Province reported. Nguyen Gia Phuong and his wife Nguyen Thi Kim Van, who lived in Hanoi, were arrested in July in Tien Giang after tricking a local shop owner of $10,000 in their 17th confirmed case of robbery.
November 27 2007 Eleven death penalties proposed for heroin dealer gang After a four day trial, Hanoi procurators Wednesday proposed 11 death penalties in the trial of a gang who smuggled 416 kilograms of heroin. The ringleader, Luong Ngoc Lap, along with ten gang members could face the firing squad, while the judges recommended seven drug dealers get life imprisonment and three others be sentenced to 18-20 years imprisonment.
November 27 2007 Education bribery defendants to stand trial Twenty-six high ranking education officials are standing trial today for accepting bribes to fix the exam scores of 1,740 students. After Bac Lieu Province high school examination results were issued last June, police arrested Nguyen Quoc Nghiem, a teacher at Nguyen Van Dau High School in Vinh Loi District, for helping rig exam results. Nghiem admitted receiving VND88 million in bribes from 11 students in return for passing them.
November 27 2007 Two killed as oven collapses in Dak Lak factory The Dak Lak Province police examined yesterday a local factory’s corn-drying oven which collapsed during a trial operation Thursday, killing two people and seriously injuring three others. The 30-meter-high system in CP Dak Lak Agricultural Product Semi-processing Factory crashed, killing engineers Dang Van Chau and Vu Xuan Doanh, and injuring three workers who were admitted to Dak Lak General Hospital.
November 20 2007 Brief News - Nov. 20 1. Hanoi Police on Sunday raided a counterfeit wine production establishment in the capital city and confiscated 200 counterfeit bottles. Four people involved were arrested.2. A five-year old baby was set free on Sunday by Hanoi Police after being held for four days by his uncle in a kidnap-for-ransom saga.3. A drug trafficking ring with 21 criminals led by Ngo Huu Cuong yesterday went on trial at Hanoi's People's Court.
November 20 2007 Traffic accidents kill almost 1,100 people a month Traffic accidents claimed the lives of 10,892 people in Vietnam during the year’s first 10 months, an average of almost 1,100 accident deaths a month, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee. The death toll is 456 higher than this time last year. There were also 9,124 injured in 12,128 traffic accidents. In October alone, as many as 1,095 road accidents occurred, killing 973 people and injuring 733 others.
November 20 2007 Court finds former Inspectorate officials guilty of corruption Three former senior officials from the State Inspectorate were found guilty of abuse of power and receiving and offering bribes by a court in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province yesterday. Luong Cao Khai, 53, who received a 21-year sentence, is the former deputy head of the State Inspectorate’s Economics Inspection Department and former head of a mission inspecting four Viet Nam Oil and Gas Corp (PetroVietnam) projects.
November 01 2007 Brief News - November 1 1. HCMC Customs officers Nguyen Tu Duy and Nguyen QuocThang were arrested on Monday while they were taking bribes.2. Ving Long Province has approved a proposal by Jappanese contractor TKN to evacuate 11 families with 32 people from an area near the Can Tho Bridge construction site to diamantle the supports of the two collapsed spans.3.
November 01 2007 Nigerian man wanted for fraud Police are searching for a Nigerian man suspected of using credit card fraud to swipe thou-sands of dollars from airlines and ticket buyers. According to the Ministry of Public Security’s Investigation Bureau, Opeoluwa Mark Adeyemi, 36, is an ex-employee of the Hoang Yen Minh Ltd. Co., based in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1.
November 01 2007 Brief News - October 30 1. Police last week detained at least five people for allegedly transporting illicit drugs from Haiphong to Hanoi. They seized two packages of heroin, a gun, two motorcycles and money.2. A fire broke out at the Vietnamese general consulate in Thailand's Khonkhen on Sunday evening, with no casualties reported. A short circuit is believed to be the cause.3. Nghe An Province police last week seized two elephant tusk and 600 kilograms of pangolins when they inspected lorries on National Highway 1.
November 01 2007 Gun use regulations jeopardizing police strength Last week a drunken thug brandishing a large knife attacked three policemen who were trying to neutralize him in the province of Phu Yen. One policemen’s arm was nearly severed in the attack. News of the attack has been greeted with public outrage. Residents of the area want to know why the policemen couldn’t stop him, claiming that in other countries police would shoot the criminal as soon as it was clear that he was dangerous and could not be stopped.
November 01 2007 Deputy police chief could face four years Binh Thuan Province prosecutors proposed a sentence of up to four years imprisonment for Hoang Dinh Loan, Deputy Chief of Ham Tan District Police, for “irresponsibility causing severe consequences.” The trial began yesterday and the Binh Thuan Province People’s Court will pronounce its decision today. Hoang Dinh Loan is accused of delaying police action against two murder suspects, members of the infamous mobster Hai Chi’s notorious Doi Mai (Apricot Hill Gang).
October 26 2007 Brief News - October 26 1. Passengers are not allowed to bring liquid in their carry on luggage on flights from December 1, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said on Wednesday.2. Quang Binh police yesterday detained over 1.3 cubic meter of precious wood illegally transported on a bus owned by Hai Phong - based Hoang Long Transportation Ltd. Co.3. At least four students were washed away at Tuy Hoa beach in Phu Yen Province on Wednesday due to strong waves, but one was later rescued.4.
October 26 2007 Guns, drugs sold at open markets along border Thanh Nien visits illegal weapons markets in northern Vietnam and southern China, where buying an “all for one” package can provide customers a variety of tear gas and electric batons. Buying knives, swords, electric clubs, tear gas, guns and aphrodisiacs is easy as pie at the Vietnam-China border. Lang Son Province’s Tan Thanh Border Gate Economic Zone is famous for its outlets selling cheap products imported from China.
October 25 2007 Brief News - October 25 1. The Ministry of Security's investigation police have pressed a charge against Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, vice chairwoman of Khanh Ha Province, for dereliction of duty. Hang was alleged to be involved in an embezzlement scandal related to an investor named Nguyen Duc Chi.2. Quang Nam police on Tuesday decided to press charges against Nguyen Minh Thuan and his accomplices for 19 counts of thefts. The group has stolen thousands of meters of electric and telecom cable in the locality.3.
October 25 2007 Coffee-shop raided for gambling Ho Chi Minh City police have raided a coffee-shop gambling den in Go Vap District, said a source from the police. The coffee-shop’s owner Thuong Tin, who used to be a film star and has started to act as an actor of opera and work as a director of TV soaps, was arrested at the scene. Police said they caught 10 people gambling and wrote up five of the suspects in a subsequent report.
October 25 2007 HCMC directors prosecuted for tax embezzlement Ho Chi Minh City police suggested yesterday the city’s People’s Court prosecute two directors for their trading of false invoices, said a police source. The two are Quang Hung Co. director Le Quang Hung, 52, of District 9, and Tan Thuan Hung Service-Trading-Construction Co. director Nguyen Van Minh, 52, of Binh Duong Province. Both companies are located in HCMC.
October 25 2007 Bank employee accused of swindling $2.3 mln Hanoi police have arrested a bank employee accused of swindling lenders out of VND37 billion, said a police source. Saigonbank employee Nguyen Thanh Huong, 28, borrowed around US$2.3 million in loans between Aug. 31 and Oct. 5, the source said. But the Hanoi resident was unable to pay off her debts. Huong told lenders she would take the loans at a daily interest of VND6,000 (US$0.37) per VND1 million, according to the report.
October 25 2007 Hanoi police nab 32 after 1,000 street races Hanoi Police have put at least 32 motorbike racers in handcuffs following a city-wide 1,000-man race one night last month, according to a police source. Hanoi residents were awakened late at night on September 29 by the roars of engines and the screeches of tires as police estimated over 1,000 motorbikes raced at speeds upwards of 80 km/hr throughout the capital. Legal speed limits are never more than 50 kph for motorbikes in Vietnamese cities.
October 22 2007 Brief News - October 22 1. Torrential rains and flash floods in the past few days have killed 15 people in the central region, while four others were still missing. 2. A rabid dog attacked 33 people in central Ninh Thuan Province, including five children, before being killed by villagers on Friday. 3. All ten foreign-invested enterprises in Hanoi inspected by the labor ministry in September have been found violating the labor code, according to results just released by the ministry’s inspectorate.4.
October 19 2007 Brief News - October 19 1. Bird flu is likely to recur in the country as early this month, fresh outbreaks were detected with 300 ducks infected at a farm in Tra Cu District in Tra Vinh Province. 2. The court of HCMC’s Tan Binh District on Wednesday handled a case filed by Vietnamese pop singer Phuong Thanh against blogger Huong Tra for alleged defamation.3. U.S. Naval ship Bruce C. Heezen is making is making the first visit by an oceaqnographic survey vessel to Vietnam.
October 19 2007 Explosion at steel factory injures dozens in central Vietnam An explosion at a steel factory in the central province of Quang Nam wounded dozens of workers Wednesday. The explosion in Truong Thanh Steel Ltd.’s factory in the district of Nui Thanh left five of the injured laborers in critical condition. According to the firm’s leaders, the explosion was caused by worker negligence which led to gas cylinders catching fire. However, a source has told Thanh Nien the burst derived from a malfunctioning steam turbine.
October 19 2007 Former verdict implementation official detained The supreme prosecutor’s office of Vietnam issued Wednesday an order for the detaining of a former high ranking verdict enforcement official for issuing illegal decisions under the authority of his office. The Supreme People’s Procuracy issued an arrest warrant for Vo Van Man, former vice chief of the Ho Chi Minh City Division of Verdict Implementation, as well as ordered a search of the former official’s home and office.
October 19 2007 Torrential rains kill one, cause heavy landslides Extended torrential rain in central Quang Nam Province yesterday killed one person and caused many heavy landsides, said a source from the Quang Nam Storm Flood Prevention Department. The rains led to flooding, and swept away a primary school teacher on his way home. The rains, quickly raising the water levels in local rivers, caused 27 landslides in the central province’s six mountainous districts, blocking a mountain route.
October 17 2007 Brief News - October 17 1. A fire erupted in a fifth-floor apartment at a hi-rise building in Nghe An Province's Vinh City, injuring the two owners with deep burns.2. Ma Thanh Cuong was arrested yesterday by Moc Bai Border Gate's police for alleged transportation of US$300,000 into Vietnam without declaration.3. A fire erupted in Cho RAy Hospital Monday night, panicking many people there. No casualties were reported.4.
October 17 2007 Another illicit foreign marriage brokerage ring busted in HCMC The police smashed an illegal crime ring yesterday that was allegedly operating clandestine matchmaking activities for foreigners, local police said. In the process, they found 54 Vietnamese women preparing to showcase themselves before two Korean men in hopes of being selected as a future mate. The police made a surprise raid on a house on Pham Huy Thong Street in Go Vap District at around 10:45 a.m.
October 17 2007 4 charged in e-Gov’t scandal The Investigative Unit of the Ministry of Public Security on Monday took into custody four more people suspectedof involvement in wrongdoings in project 112 that aimed to computerise state administrative management.
October 17 2007 Gas container explodes, burning ten in restaurant Ten guests at a wedding party yesterday in the southern province of Dong Nai suffered burns caused by an explosion from a mini-gas cylinder. One of the ten victims told Thanh Nien that at around 1p.m., the gas container in a cooking device exploded into flames, leaving four people with mild burns and sending another six to hospital. They suffered burns covering 20 per-cent of their faces and hands. The wedding took place at Thanh Truc Restaurant in Long Thanh District.
October 11 2007 Brief News - October 11 1. Hanoi Police on Monday arrested 14 people involved in an illegal motor race in the capital city on September 30.2. The U.S Embassy in Vietnam announced yesterday it would provide US$100,000 as relief aid to help the typhoon Lekima's victims.3. The Ministry of Health will establish 15 bird flu monitoring stations nationwide to observe the disease in the country.4.
October 09 2007 Brief News - October 9 1. Around 80 taxi drivers of the Green Taxi Co. Ltd. in Danang went on strike on Sunday over labor dispute. 2. Danang’s Customs Department on Sunday lodged an appeal against the ruling by the municipal administration court, which forced the customs department to return 21 tons of precious wood to a local enterprise. (Tuoi Tre) 3. Landslides and flashfloods unveiled six bombs in Moc Chau Town in Son La Province. These bombs were made by the U.S.
October 09 2007 Cops suspended for handing over evidence amid investigation Two district policemen in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province have been suspended for returning evidence to suspects. According to the administration of Hac Dich District, Hoang Chiem Vinh and Do Van Tuan were assigned to investigate a local assault in June. Instead of securing evidence, the now-suspended officers gave it back to those implicated in the crimes. When witnesses reported their activities, the two allegedly forged reports and made false statements.
October 09 2007 Possible wrongdoings in PMU-18 road project, police say An assessment of three road construction packages carried out by a corruption-plagued trans-port ministry unit showed “signs of wrongdoings” in payments, a police source told Thanh Nien. An assessment of the project to improve and upgrade Highway No. 13 had been carried out as part of an investigation into project management unit (PMU) 18 on various charges, including embezzlement and seizing public goods for personal use.
October 09 2007 Ex-employee tries to set fire to Hanoi bank Police in Hanoi are investigating an incident last week in which a dismissed employee almost set fire to a branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank in retaliation. The Hoan Kiem District police said that Dinh Ngoc Minh, 35, a former driver for the bank, was arrested Friday for threatening to burn down the bank’s district branch. Minh was fired last month for stealing a colleague’s cell phone.
October 09 2007 Central province to press charges against escaped gangster Police in south-central Khanh Hoa Province will prosecute an escapee and his nine accomplices for a jailbreak last June. On June 13, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh Hanh, aka Hanh “Nhat,” broke out of a prison in Dien Khanh District after sawing through the iron bars in his cell with the help of two fellow prisoners who supported him on their backs. But five days later he surrendered to police in southern Dong Nai Province, where he had fled.
October 01 2007 Brief News - October 1 1. HCMC's Health Department has said hand-foot-mouth disease has develped into an epidemic with 170 cases reported last week. Meanwhile, dengue fever is at an alarming rate with 400 cases found in the city.2. Phung Van Nhanh, a tenth grader in Danang, died after he rescued his friend who was swept away by strong waves.3. Nguyen Tran Thuy Linh, a Vietnamese French woman, was expelled out of Vietnam and fined VND5 million under a HCMC court decision last week.
October 01 2007 Kidnapping gang HCM City People’s Court yesterday handed down prison sentences ranging from two to 28 years to five members of a crime gang who were found guilty of kidnapping a local businessman’s son for a ransom of US$10million. Crime boss Pham Duc Binh, alias Binh Kiem, a 37-year-old resident in HCM City’s Phu Nhuan District, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for kidnapping with "an aim to misappropriate other people’s assets", plus eight years for purchasing and keeping military weapons.
September 27 2007 Brief News - September 27 1. Vietnam’s jurisdiction will have the right to refuse extradition of Vietnamese citizens abroad upon requests of foreign courts, according to a new draft law discussed by the National Assembly on Tuesday. 2. A 21-year-old man plunged from a high floor to his death in the HCMC-based Cho Ray Hospital on Tuesday. Police said he was not a patient at the hospital and the reason remained unknown. 3.
September 27 2007 Police get custody of state official implicated in gambling Vietnamese prosecutors approved Monday a police request to hold a top official from a state-owned property firm for three months on gambling charges. Le Kim Minh, 52, deputy general director of the Hanoi Housing Development and Investment Corporation (Handico), was arrested last month for his involvement in a gambling case in which eight other Handico officials were also taken in.
September 24 2007 Amnesty to 10,000 prisoners Vietnam is to release up to 10,000 prisoners next month before they serve their terms as part of the country’s annual amnesty program, an official said Saturday. The Prison Management Department under the Ministry of Public Security is compiling a list of between 9,000 and 10,000 prisoners, who will be offered an amnesty mid-October, according to Pham Duc Chan, head of the department.
September 24 2007 scam-hit computerization project Vu Dinh Thuan – ex-chief of Project 112 The Vietnamese government instructed Thursday the agencies entrusted with an abortive national computerization project to file revenue and expenditure reports. The Ministry of Finance and the State Audit Office will be deputed to scrutinize the documents from Project 112 for computerizing the entire administrative system, which was called off last April. But the deadline for submission is not known.
September 24 2007 IT project graft scandal The Investigative Unit of the Public Security Ministry yesterday arrested and started legal proceedings against eight senior officials accused of wrongdoing in implementing Project 112, an IT project on State administrative management authorised in 2001 by Prime Minister’s Decision No 112. The accused will be charged with abuse of power while carrying out public duties and intentionally causing serious losses to the State budget.
September 24 2007 Drug trafficker gets death penalty The People’s Court in HCM City handed down the death penalty to an overseas Vietnamese convicted of drug trafficking after a trial on Tuesday. Nguyen Hong Viet, alias Manh Tony, a 40-year-old Australian national, was found guilty of trafficking nearly 950g of heroin from Viet Nam to Australia. The court’s documents say Manh Tony was captured red-handed carrying the heroin through the check-in for flight VN 783 from HCM City to Sydney on 3 March 2007.
September 14 2007 Brief News - September 14 1. Up to 43 people were killed in traffic accidents in HCMC in the first 11 days of this month. The city's traffic police division has called for more inspections and ill impose tough punitive sanctions on those violating traffic regulations.2. Over 1,000 workers of Han Soll Dae Kwang Apparel Korean Company in Binh Duong Province went on strike on Wednesday, asking for better meal between working shifts, as the current lunch ration is said to cost only VND3,500, too little for quality food.3.
August 31 2007 Brief News - August 31 1. An unexpected wall collapse killed three workers at a construction site of Dang Tu Ky Co. at Nhon Trach 1 Industrial Park in Dong Nai Province.2. A person riding his motorbike fell into the river at Rach Soi Bridge in Kien Giang Province on Tuesday, and was reported missing.3. Up to 26 local fishermen and their own ships from Quang Ngai Province are said to be taken in the outer sea by a foreign ship for ransom last Saturday.4.
August 31 2007 Strike for wage hikes, shift cuts Around 1,200 workers at two foreign-owned plants in the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Long An went on strike against low wages, long hours and poor working conditions yesterday. In Binh Duong province some 15km from Ho Chi Minh City, 1,000 workers for the Republic of Korea’s Beautec Vina, a garment producer, stopped work demanding higher salaries. Laborers said their current wages - VND870,000 (US$53.6) per month - is not enough to live on.
August 31 2007 Gas embezzlement Vietnamese police aim to press embezzlement charges against seven people accused of pocketing billions of dong by selling gasoline stolen from a state depot in a southern province. Last year, Nguyen Duy Anh and Nguyen Duc Hinh - director and deputy director, respectively, of a state-owned Petrovietnam Oil Processing and Distribution Company (PDC) plant - allegedly connived with others to spirit around 1,000 cu.m of M83 fuel to be stored at their plant in the southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.
August 06 2007 Brief news - August 6 * A fire killed three children in Lam Dong Province’s Di Linh District last week. * Landslides along a five-kilometer section from the Tien River in Vinh Long Province to the Co Chien River are threatening the safety of the My Thuan Bridge. * Five elephants have devastated hundreds of hectares of farmland in Quang Nam Province’s Bac Tra My District.
August 06 2007 Fraudulent documents Ho Chi Minh City police Saturday arrested two men for selling hundreds of fake documents. After his arrest, Phan Chinh, 62, admitted to selling all kinds of fake certificates – marriage certificates, motorbike registrations, driving licenses, business registrations, and land deeds – for up to 2.5 million ( US$156) each. Chinh is accused of taking part in the bogus business for 17 years.
August 02 2007 Selling expired drugs The Ho Chi Minh City police Tuesday sought to press charges against a man for selling expired medicines and a doctor for buying them to treat her patients. They asked the city prosecutor’s office to file a charge of “trading in fake medicinal products” against Bui Tien Thanh, 48, and Dr Tran Ngoc Anh, 44. In November last year the police made a surprise inspection of Thanh’s house in district 3 and found a huge quantity of expired medicines with expiry dates falsified.
August 02 2007 Brief News - August 2 * Police on Tuesday formally charged and detained Luong Cam Huy and Cao Van Hong for illegally gambling in casinos at restaurants and hotels in HCMC. * Tran Van Tri, an official with the Governmental Office, became fainted and unconscious Tuesday after inhaling a white powder contained in an envelope sent to his office.
August 02 2007 Trafficking women The HCM City People’s Court yesterday sent a Taiwanese husband and his Vietnamese wife, as well as four other Vietnamese, to jail for trafficking women. Tran Thi My Phuong, 35, a resident of Ca Mau Province, received 12 years, and her 46-year-old Taiwanese husband, Tsai I Hsien, 7 years. Phan Thi Hong Yen, 35, of Tra Vinh, got 10 years.
August 02 2007 Brief news - August 1 * Vung Tau’s maritime rescue center timely rescued two people in a fire on a boat 70 nautical miles southeast of Vung Tau City on Monday. * Dong Nai Bridge may collapse any time, according to colonel Nguyen Phi Hung, deputy director of Dong Nai Police. * Haiphong City police have detained Cao Van Giang, a policeman of drug fighting, for involving in robbing a man of nearly VND560 million, US$20,000 and one mobile phone.
July 19 2007 Corrupted inspectors The Supreme People’s Procuracy has filed charges against three former senior inspectors in a corruption scam relating to projects involving the State owned oil giant PetroVietnam. Luong Cao Khai, former deputy head of the Inspection Department for Resolving Economic Petitions and Complaints (Department 2) and head of a Governmental inspection mission, was accused of abuses of power and giving and receiving bribes.
July 19 2007 Bus collision Police are considering investigating a bus driver blamed for a multiple-car accident that left seven dead and 21 injured in southern Vietnam Monday. If an investigation produces evidence against 39-year-old Vo Duy Tung, from the central province of Quang Ngai, he could be charged with “violating traffic regulations causing serious consequences,” police said.
July 19 2007 Fake university certificates The Ho Chi Minh City police arrested three people Sunday for forging university certificates after their gang was fingered by a ‘customer’. The police caught Tran Hoan Tam delivering a fake certificate to T.P.N at a coffee shop in district 3 and receiving VND5 million (US$31). Tam admitted to the police that he and his step father, 56-year-old Truong Anh Tuan, ran the gang along with Lai Quoc Dung.
July 19 2007 Land scam Police wrapped up an investigation of a businessman and four suspected accomplices, including three officials, accused of helping him obtain a bogus land deed he used to acquire funds for a phony project. Businessman Nguyen Duc Chi, 38, is facing “fraud” charges after he failed to pay US$4.87 million to investors and partners who worked with him on his Rusalka resort project in Khanh Hoa provinces Nha Trang City.
July 19 2007 Drug trafficking Hanoi police have filed charges against 22 members of a gang which traded 518kg of heroin throughout the country over a period of several years, including its boss who was arrested in May. Luong Ngoc Lap, 37, the linchpin, had been arrested and the ring busted after the Ho Chi Minh City police caught two drug pushers in May last year.
July 10 2007 Women trafficking A Taiwanese man will go on trial in Vietnam later this month for trafficking Vietnamese women in Malaysia. Tsai Hsien, 46, will be tried along with five Vietnamese nationals including his Vietnamese wife Tran Thi My Phuong at the Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Court on July 26.
May 29 2007 Brief News - May 29 1. The Ministry of Public Security closed a training course on preventing and fighting copycat production and trade frauds in HCMC. The workshop was sponsored by the French Consulate General in the city. (SGGP)2. Police detained hundreds of people and millions of dollar at three gambling houses in HCMC. (Thanh Nien)3. Hanoi Police prosecuted 24 employees of Phuong Dong debt collector last week for illegally arresting two women and taking their property by force.4.
May 18 2007 Brief News - May 18 1. Police in District 11 and Binh Ta Distric police on Tuesday and Wednesday uncovered 1,200 allegedly smuggled motors valued at billions of dong at two warehousees in the two districts.2. Seven bodies among eight sailors missing in the local ship that sunk on Nha Be River on Tuesday have been found and taken ashore. The Maritime Safety Company, under the Vietnam traffic on the river section where a Chinese-flagged ship collided into the local vessel Hoang Dat 36.3.
May 16 2007 Brief News - May 16 1. Quang Tri Province border soldiers and Lao Police have rescued 11 women who had been tricked into Laos for prostitution. (Thanh Nien)2. Quang Nam Province soldiers have successfully excavated a 500-kilo bomb dropped in 1972 during the war at the Cham My Son Heritage. The bomb has been neutralized and is being displayed at Khe The Museum.3. Quang Ninh Province police last week detained 238 people suspected of drug abuse at the Nam Son Club.4.
May 16 2007 Drug ring Vietnamese police have arrested 15 people, including an Australian of Vietnamese origin, allegedly involved in the largest drug ring busted in Ho Chi Minh City this year. The city’s narcotic police seized many pills of ecstasy and documents related to drug trafficking during the arrests. They reported that Vietnamese Australian, Tran The Luan, was caught Saturday on the way to deliver ecstasy pills to an “agent.
May 10 2007 Brief News - May 10 1. President Nguyen Minh Triet has granted a humanitarian amnesty to Phan Van Ban, who had been found guilty of treason and conspiring against the State of Vietnam, the Ministry of Public Security announced yesterday. Ban who had served 22 years of life sentence sent a letter to the President pleading for clemency. (TTXVN)2.
May 09 2007 Brief News - May 9 1. Indonesian police have detained six foreign fishing ships with 47 fishermen aboard, including 18 Vietnamese, who are accused of violating Malaysia's territorial waters. (Tin Tuc)2. Nearly one kilogram of heroin has been taken out from the stomach of overseas Vietnamese Nguyen Kant, who was rushed to hospital in HCMC while en route to Australia on a Vietnam Airlines flight on May 5.
May 09 2007 Bank customer robbers smashed Those who feel nervous leaving the bank with big cash can relax a bit as HCM City police on Friday, May 4 arrested five robbers who have allegedly snatched over US$137,500 in 14 bank-customer robberies since last year. The gang of five were arrested after grabbing a bag from a woman they had watched withdraw VND8 million ($500) from Incombank in District 10.
May 09 2007 Heroin in Stomach Four hours into a flight from HCMC to Australia on Sunday, a Vietnam Airlines flight was forced to return to Tan Son Nhat Airport for an emergency landing when a passenger began to vomit and fainted. The Australian-Vietnamese passenger, who was suffering from a painful stomachache, brought up some broken condoms and a powdery white substance that had solidified into small clumps. Suspecting the passenger was a drug mule, the captain flew back to the city and informed local police there.
May 09 2007 Fake stocks A court in northern Vietnam sentenced an American man to 13 years in prison for trying to dupe people swept up in Vietnam’s stock market mania, a court official said Thursday, May 3. Ly Huu Hoang, 62, of California, was convicted of fraud Wednesday in Vietnam’s northern port city of Haiphong, the Associated Press quoted presiding judge Tran Huu Khoat as saying. Hoang was found guilty of counterfeiting stock certificates and trying to sell them to eager local investors.
May 09 2007 Illegal Activity in New Century Club At 1 a.m. on April 28, nearly 500 policemen raided Ha Noi’s largest hotspot, the New Century Nightclub and detained some 1,200 people, including performers and foreigners. Later urine tests revealed that some 200 of them had been using drugs. Police also seized large quantities of illegal drugs including heroin and ecstasy. Seven couples were also found having sex in hired private rooms.
April 17 2007 Hanoi policeman shoots a woman twice A Hanoi police lieutenant has been arrested for shooting a 25-year-old woman in front of a karaoke parlor last Saturday, April 7 where she and her friends were involved in a fight with others. Colonel Nguyen Duc Nhanh, director of the Hanoi police force, said Friday that 29-year-old Le Manh Hien of the Hoang Mai district force was detained and charges would be filed against him. The victim, known only as Bich, had escaped death “by a hair’s breadth”, doctors said.
April 17 2007 Brief News - April 17 1. Cao Thuy Linh, an actress who played the role of a policewoman in Canh Sat Hinh Su (Criminal Investigation Police) film, and 22 others were detained for taking ecstasy bills at a karaoke bar in Ha Tay Province yesterday. (Tien Phong)2. The Ministry of the Interior is drafting a law that forces States officials to open bank accounts so that their incomes can be monitored. (Tuoi Tre)3. More than 700 workers of Quinmax Interna-tional Vietnam Co.
April 17 2007 Accused bomber in Thai court A Thai criminal court has begun proceedings against a Vietnamese-born US citizen accused of attempting to bomb the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok on June 19, 2001. After hearing the indictment, the preliminary court requested the police to provide more documents and evidence in order to further pursue the case against Vo Van Duc. The next hearing is scheduled to take place on April 30.
April 13 2007 Brief News - April 13, 2007 1. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has signed a decree on sanctions against administrative violations in information technology, with the heaviest fine amounting to VND100 million. 2. A fire on Wednesday destroyed more than 21 hectares of forest and grassland at the National Bird Park in Dong Thap Province’s Tam Nong District. (Tuoi Tre) 3. More than 700 workers of Quinmax Interna-tional Vietnam Co.
April 02 2007 growing marijuana Ten people have been arrested in northern Vietnam for growing marijuana, including a farmer and the masterminds who hired him to grow the crop on his field. On March 13 police arrested five people in Hanoi for trading drugs and traced their supply to a 1,000 sq.m field growing the crop in neighboring Ha Tay province and arrested the owner of the field. They even found the farmer growing the plants in several vases in his house.
April 02 2007 Brief News April 2, 2007 1. A national helmet wearing campaign aiming to decrease the number of brain injury cases among motorcyclists has been launched in Hanoi. (SGT) 2. The Thua Thien-Hue Province People’s Court last week sentenced Nguyen Van Ly to eight years in jail on charges of spreading propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 3. Mai Van Dau, former deputy minister of trade, has appealed against the first-instance verdict on sentencing him to 14 years in jail on charges of receiving bribes.
April 02 2007 VND Counterfeits On March 21, 2007, Hanoi Police caught red-handedly two individuals - Nguyen Van Duc, 1967 and Nguyen Thi Nhan, 1975 from Bac Ninh Province - using counterfeits at a cafe in Dong Anh District, Hanoi. At the site, they were keeping 199,600,000 dong counterfeits (in 200,000 dong denotation).
March 28 2007 Cyber thieves Vietnamese police recently arrested two hackers for stealing credit card information from the UK and US and selling them on the Internet, enabling cyber thieves in the UK to steal an estimated US$368.8 million.
March 28 2007 Ex-lawmaker gets eight years for bribery Former central legislator and provincial educational official in Vietnam got eight years in jail Saturday for taking bribes of over VND230 million (US$14,375) to ratify dubious purchase deals by schools. Mac Kim Ton, 57, was found guilty of “abusing power” while he was director of Thai Binh province’s Department of Education and Training though he insisted he was innocent. He claimed to have been cheated by Tran Thi Anh, the mastermind behind the purchases.
March 28 2007 smuggling artifacts Vietnamese police have arrested four men, including two Chinese nationals, on suspicion of antiquities smuggling, police said Monday. The men were arrested Friday, March 23 in Mong Cai Town near the border with China with several items, some of which have been identified as ancient Vietnamese artifacts. Police seized 36 items, including 1 bronze drum, 59 earrings, 10 statues and a ceramics jar, according to the Cong An Nhan Dan (People's Police) newspaper.
March 28 2007 Man sentenced for airliner bomb hoax A passenger who claimed to be carrying a bomb in his luggage and was charged with impeding air transportation, was sentenced at a trial last week. Lam Tan Ngan, boarded a Vietnam Airlines Ha Noi-HCM City flight on October 8, 2006 which was carrying 278 passengers, and then told an air hostess that he had hidden a grenade in his stowed luggage.
March 28 2007 Fake ATM cards Police in Vietnam's metro Ho Chi Minh City has arrested a Malaysian national who owned 18 fake ATM cards and was attempting to use one of them. Tipped by staff of an ACB Bank branch in District 3, the police arrested the man, who said his name was Murugian, while he was trying to withdraw money from an ATM there last Friday, March 23. Murugian, 39, arrived in Vietnam two days earlier from Laos, but he could not produce his passport to the police.
March 28 2007 Brief News 1. Hanoi police have arrested a man from Yen Bai City for stealing a laptop, two cameras, five mobile phones, jewelry, and other valuables of six foreigners including deputy general director of CNN Hugh Lewellyn Stephens. The incident took place last November.2. HCMC police on Monday detained two trucks illegally transporting chicken and eggs that have not been quarantined. 3.
March 14 2007 Forging customs papers Police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested two businessmen Monday, March 12 for faking documents and spiriting away four containers of contraband from the US from right under the noses of customs officials. They said Tran Xuan Duc and Tran Lan Huong, both directors of city private companies, had produced documents bearing forged seals and signatures of customs officials to take away used medical equipment whose import into Vietnam is controlled.
March 14 2007 Ex-soldier arrested in HCMC bomb blast Police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested a man Monday on suspicion that he made and placed the bomb that seriously injured a city businesswoman last Saturday, March 10. Nguyen Van Hoa, 44, was charged with attempted murder and “illegally making and using explosive materials” after Nguyen Thi Vinh, 50, had her legs amputated and her husband Lam Quoc Viet, 51, had his face injured in the explosion.
March 14 2007 Strikes in southern Vietnam Over 4,000 workers walked out over low pay Monday, March 12 at four foreign companies in the southern Vietnamese province of Dong Nai and are continuing to strike work at three of the firms. The workers of the Singapore-owned Asia Garments returned to work after the company agreed to raise their salary by 7 percent pay a monthly allowance of VND50,000 (US$3.1).
March 14 2007 Two businessmen swindled customers The Vietnamese police asked Interpol Thursday, March 1 to hunt down two foreign businessmen who allegedly swindled customers of US$10 million after offering them online currency trading facilities.
March 14 2007 More former officials may be prosecuted in corruption case Investigators handling the Do Son land corruption case have called for the prosecution of four more local officials involved in the land allocation scandal, in Do Son Town, Hai Phong City. The accused officials are former Party secretaries and chairmen of the People’s Committees of the two wards, Van Son and Van Huong.
March 14 2007 Student caught red-handed extorting $625 with HIV threat A sophomore at a Ho Chi Minh City junior college was arrested Friday, March 9 after being caught red-handed trying to extort VND10 million (US$625) from a businessman with threats of infecting his family with HIV. Nguyen Tran Nhat, hailing from the central Da Nang City and majoring in construction, claimed he needed the money for his grandmother’s medical treatment after being caught blackmailing T.T.T, director of a private company in Da Nang.
March 12 2007 Home-made bomb explodes in HCMC A woman lost both her legs as a home-made bomb exploded outside her house in Ho Chi Minh City Saturday. A neighbor and business rival is the prime suspect. According to Lam Quoc Viet, 51, he and his wife Nguyen Thi Vinh, 50, were coming out of their house in Go Vap district at around 6 am for their morning exercise when she spotted a white nylon bag in front of the doorstep. She kicked it and it exploded.
February 21 2007 Tet festivities marred by 203 traffic deaths More than 200 people died in the the traffic accidents across the nation during Tet, according to the Ministry of Public Security.An official fromt he ministry said there were 7,270 traffic accidents across Vietnam , 300 of which were clasified as serious. The accidents led to 203 deaths and hundreds of injuries during Tet time, 45 more deaths than last Tet.HCM City has seen a strong rise in the number of accidents.
February 21 2007 Boss of armed robbery gang nabbed by Vietnam, Cambodia police Police in Vietnam and Cambodia said Wednesday they have arrested the leader of an armed gang that robbed a jewelry store in southern Vietnam last month. This is the fourth of the six-man Cambodian gang to be taken into custody. Three others were seized the week after the hesit January 9. The robbers took away 150 taels of gold (one tael=1.25oz) and VND8 million (US$500) in cash, according to Tran Thi Thom, owner of the shop in Tay Ninh province’s Tan Bien district.
February 15 2007 Land scam Prosecutors Monday recommended up to 30 years imprisonment to a former district mayor of Ho Chi Minh City and 14 years to the district’s ex-Communist Party chief currently on trial for corruption in a land scam. They recommended 25-30 years to Tran Kim Long, former head of the Go Vap district government and 12-14 years to Nguyen Van Tinh, former party chief of the district for receiving VND540 million (US$33,750) and VND800 million ($50,000) respectively in bribes.
February 15 2007 Australian woman arrested in Vietnamese heroin bust An Australian woman of Vietnamese origin has reportedly been arrested for drug trafficking. Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper quotes officials as saying the 33-year-old woman was detained in Vietnam on Tuesday after trying to board a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney. She allegedly had more than 1,500 grams of heroin hidden in her shoes and luggage. Trafficking of more than 600 grams of heroin in Vietnam is punishable by death or life imprisonment.
February 15 2007 Match fixing footballer appeals for lighter sentence Facing six years of hard time for match fixing, Vietnamese international footballer Le Quoc Vuong lodged an appeal yesterday to the Ho Chi Minh City court to lighten the sentence. In the letter, Vuong admitted he took part in the gambling, but did not instigate the crime, as the courts had found in sentencing him to three years on that count.
February 15 2007 State firm executive caught red-handed taking bribe A director of a state construction firm in central Vietnam was caught red-handed by the police Saturday taking a bribe of VND200 million ($12,500), possibly for awarding lucrative contracts. Nguyen Dinh Than, director of Vinaconex No 10 based in Da Nang City, was found taking the money from Nguyen Dai Loi, director of Truong Son Construction Consultancy Company belonging to the defense ministry.
February 15 2007 Man detained in yet another bomb hoax man who claimed to have a bomb while boarding a Vietnam Airlines flight Wednesday has been detained, said airport authorities on the scene. Dinh Dinh Dai told a flight attendant that he had a bomb when asked to stow his luggage to prepare for take-off of flight VN210 from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi at 6.30 am, local media reported. The flight was canceled immediately and all 150 passengers evacuated.
February 15 2007 Bus-train crash More details are known about the horrific accident in Khanh Hoa province Thursday night in which 13 people died after a bus rammed a train. The accident happened at 11pm in Hoa Diem village in Cam Ranh town when the coach crashed through a railroad crossing barrier, the leader of the town, Nguyen Tan Hung, said. Twenty four people were hospitalized, four in critical condition.
February 15 2007 Hydrofoil-ship collision kills three foreigners in Vietnam Three foreigners were killed and 18 others, including three more foreigners, injured in a collision between a hydrofoil and a cargo ship Friday off the coast of Quang Ninh province. The three dead have been identified as Korean Lee Ki Hong and two Chinese, He Da and Yang Yong De. A three-year-old Chinese child and a Vietnamese woman are reportedly in critical condition.
January 17 2007 Abetting firms evade tax Vietnamese police arrested Friday the deputy leader of the northern Lao Cai province for abetting businesses illegally import tobacco and evade taxes worth billions of dong. Nguyen Ngoc Kim, permanent vice chairman of the Lao Cai people's committee, was found to have signed 14 documents authorizing Thien Loi Hoa Company and some other firms import tobacco leaves across the Chinese border.
January 17 2007 Illegal immigration gang to jail A Ho Chi Minh City court tried 12 people belonging to an illegal immigration gang Monday and jailed its leader, Pham Quoc Hao, 32, for seven years. Nguyen Quoc Ly, 44, got six years for the same crimes as Hao - organizing illegal immigration and forging official documents and stamps. Ten others received sentences ranging from a one year suspended term to five years for either of the two crimes.
January 17 2007 Vietnam gold heist A Vietnamese-Cambodian joint police force arrested Monday three Cambodian soldiers for an armed robbery last week when they broke into a gold shop in Vietnam and stole 150 taels of gold and injured two people. Admitting to robbing Kim Hong jewelry in Hoa Binh hamlet in the border Tay Ninh province, they said they were border troops and had been led by an officer. Vietnamese police said the boss, who had fled after the crime, was still at large.
January 17 2007 Police bust moonshine ring An inter-provincial police team confiscated thousands of bootleg wine bottles on Monday while checking four units in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, and Vinh cities.Police said the bootleg wine was produced and sold by the largest-ever northern ring, led by Tran Thi Bach Linh, who produced fake wines at her house in Nghe An Province's Vinh City.
January 17 2007 A prosecutor got killed The Ho Chi Minh City police arrested Monday an 18-year-old guard at a local prosecutor's office for murdering a prosecutor several days ago to rob her. Nguyen Huu Vinh of the district 2 Prosecutor's Office admitted he had killed Le Minh Tam, 35, using a heavy lock, a rock, and a knife last Friday.
January 17 2007 Police to prosecute Golden Rock company leaders HCM City investigative police will prosecute managers of the representative office of Golden Rock International for swindling nearly US$10 million. Police said Golden Rock’s chief representative Stanley Elliot Tan and financial director Cheng Kwok Ping Patric had fled after appropriating nearly $10 million, most of which was appropriated from investors in the company. Tan, a Canadian citizen, has been chief representative of Golden Rock since it was opened in August 2005.
January 17 2007 Vinh Long’s student hacker Twelfth grader Bui Minh Tri, who broke into secured domestic computer networks of organisations should be punished to full extent of the law, investigators said, after finishing their probe into the case this week.
January 17 2007 Lao Cai People’s Committee official arrested on tax fraud Deputy Chairman of the Lao Cai People’s Committee Nguyen Ngoc Kim was arrested yesterday on charges of tax fraud and violating State regulations on economic management. Kim allegedly helped Thien Loi Hoa Company and others dodge tax mounting to VND7.2 billions (US$450,000) and smuggle goods across the border, the police of the Ministry of Public Security said.
January 11 2007 Illegal CDs HCM City - Police on Monday seized over 20,000 illegal CDs, digital and video discs during a raid on a house in HCM City's District 7.Police said the house at 7C, Road 8, Tan Kieng Ward was allegedly run by a ring that had produced and distributed bottlegged CDs, VCDs and DVDs in HCM City for years.The search at the house lasted an hour and a half.
January 11 2007 Armed robbers storm jewelry shop in southern province Six armed robbers Tuesday raided a jewelry store in Tay Ninh southern province, 100km northwest of Ho Chi Minh City, fleeing with all of the shop?s valuables. The shop was situated in Hoa Hiep commune of Tay Ninh's Tan Bien district, run by Phuong Minh Dung and Tran Thi Thom.
January 11 2007 HCM City officials face trial for landgrab cover-up, bribery Ho Chi Minh City prosecutors have charged 7 people with corruption and fraud, including a district Communist Party chief, in a landgrab cover-up case that caused a loss of $1.25 million to the state treasury.
January 11 2007 Brief news, January 11, 2007 1. Vietnam has sent 14 poultry samples abroad for further study by foreign experts although there have been no signs of the H5N1virus mutating. (TTXVN) 2. A container vehicle transporting frozen fish from Haiphong City was upturned on Tuesday on the railway, causing five trains to cancel their regular trips. (Lao Dong) 3.
January 09 2007 Ho Chi Minh City tears up textile smuggling ring Ho Chi Minh City authorities seized Thursday nearly 40 tons of fabric without invoices and other papers, admitted by their owner to be partly smuggled in from Taiwan. The city police and market officials made a surprise inspection of a warehouse in Tan Phu district and discovered 32 tons. Chong Lau Dieng, a director of a limited liability company and owner of the contraband, said he had imported them from Taiwan.
January 09 2007 Officials face prosecution in Vietnam for massive corruption Vietnamese police are seeking to press charges against 13 people including a senior official for corruption and embezzling construction materials from a central region embankment project. The 13 face charges of "embezzlement", "irresponsibility", "power abuse", "offering bribes", and "receiving bribes". The mastermind is Le Mao, a retired deputy director of the Phu Yen province agriculture department.
January 09 2007 Ho Chi Minh City bookmakers to stand trial Vietnamese prosecutors have ratified an indictment against 34 people involving in the largest-ever bookmaking ring in Ho Chi Minh City, and transferred all documentation to the city court for future trials. The group faces charges of “organized gambling” after being found to have received bets worth billions of dong a day [VND1 billion = US$62,500]. The ring would receive bets from punters who picked random two-digit numbers.
January 09 2007 Economic crimes cost Vietnam $150 mln in 2006 Vietnamese police investigations on over 11,200 economic crime cases last year revealed an estimated loss of over VND2.5 trillion (US$156 million), local media reported Monday. The figures increased by almost 1.1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, year-on-year, a report by Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted the Ministry of Public Security as saying.
January 09 2007 Vietnam seizes 1 ton of firecrackers ahead of Lunar New Year Authorities in Vietnam have arrested five people with more than a ton of firecrackers as part of an annual crackdown on cross-border smuggling ahead of the Tet lunar new year, a DPA report has said. Coast guard officers stopped a ship off Quang Ninh province near the Chinese border last week for a random check and found 1,078 kilograms of firecrackers, The report quoted Nguyen Dinh Hoat, deputy chief of the area coast guard, as saying.
January 09 2007 Bird flu spreads wings in Mekong Delta region Avian influenza has hit some 34 communes in 15 districts of three Mekong Delta provinces, including Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Hau Giang since it reared its ugly head again in early December. Reports by local animal health departments said on Thursday the disease spread to seven more communes in the provinces compared with Wednesday’s number. The epidemic is expanding in the region despite efforts of local authorities in quarantining, sterilizing infected sites and bird culls.
November 29 2006 Arrested PMU18 official admits wife got $356,250 in bribes Hanoi official currently in police custody has confessed his wife once took a US$356,250 bribe from businessmen who wanted to thank her for abetting them to pocket state funds from a building project. According to police sources, Pham Tien Dung, former head of a project implementation division under the transport ministry's Project Management Unit No 18 (PMU18), said his wife Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa, also ex-deputy head of the division, had received the bribe, VND5.
November 29 2006 Boss of illegal currency trading firm flees with over $10 million The head of a Hong Kong company based in HCM City which was illegally taking customers' money to trade in currencies has reportedly absconded with over US$10 million. An employee of Golden Rock International Ltd., Tran Trong Thang, said Stanley Elliot Tan, chief representative of the Hong Kong-headquartered company fled the country at 4pm on Tuesday. The company's investors and brokers first became alarmed when they were unable to reach Tan on Wednesday morning.
October 26 2006 Gold smuggler foiled at southern airport Security at an airport in Ho Chi Minh City caught red-handedly a Vietnam Airlines worker attempting to smuggling around 1.5 kg of gold to Russia early Monday October 16, local Tuoi Tre newspaper has reported. Nguyen Xuan Hao is an employee of Vietnam Airlines’ A75 Airplane Enterprise which specializes in repairing and maintaining the carrier’s aircrafts. He was about to board flight VN 741 to Russia at around 12:15am Monday carrying a package when airport security stopped him.
October 26 2006 Police arrest 116 in northern Vietnam gambling den Police raided a private home and arrested 116 gamblers in the northern Vietnamese province of Hung Yen, authorities said Thursday October 19. Authorities seized five cars, 31 motorbikes, 12 mobile phones and VND470 million dong (US$30,000) in the raid on Wednesday night in Hung Yen, 50 kilometers east of Hanoi.
October 26 2006 Fraudulent officials dismissed in central district 1. Fraudulent officials dismissed in central districtThe chairman of a communal People’s Committee in the central Vietnam district of Tra Mi and his deputy have been fired for appropriation of state lands and funds.
October 26 2006 Hanoi performs disaster preparedness set for APEC meetings Almost 300 firemen, police and health officers undertook successful fire and rescue maneuvers at Hanoi’s Daewoo Hotel on Sunday in preparation for APEC meetings in the city November 12-19. Participants battled a mock blaze in the absence of the automatic sprinkler system due to sabotage on the seventh floor of the luxury hotel. The servicemen stamped out the fire in minutes and efficiently evacuated all visitors staying at the hotel.
October 26 2006 Police puzzled at how officials kept embezzlement mum Police in Kien Giang Mekong province nabbed two officials who skimmed a large amount of commissions destined for the coffers of the import/export company they ran, surprised at how the scam was kept quiet.
October 26 2006 Vietnamese businessman to be remanded for $6 million fraud The Vietnamese police have demanded another 4-month detainment for a dubious businessman in custody since last year for swindling around US$6 million from his partners and allegedly paying $700,000 in bribes. The Ministry of Public Security Friday asked the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office to ratify the retention of Nguyen Duc Chi, chairman of the bogus Rusalka resort project in central Khanh Hoa province’s Nha Trang Town and director of several non-existent companies.
October 26 2006 Hanoi police to prosecute bomb hoaxer Hanoi police decided Tuesday October 24 to prosecute a prankster for raising a false bomb alarm aboard a Vietnam Airlines flight two months ago and holding up flights and passengers.
October 26 2006 HCMC police bust restaurant which doubled up as brothel Police in Ho Chi Minh City busted Tuesday a restaurant which was clandestinely carrying on prostitution and offering adult entertainment. They raided the Pha Le restaurant, catching a couple "in the act" and finding 40 other women performing erotic dances to entertain customers. All the staff and the manager, Ta Anh Dung, were taken into custody for questioning.
October 26 2006 Gangster looses street war, surrenders to police A veteran gangster Wednesday October 25 handed himself into the Hanoi police and was transferred back to central resort Nha Trang province, after a turf war with a rival gang proved a losing proposition. Pham Chi Tin, 48, dubbed "Tin Peles" had been wanted for "causing public disorder" after an assault in December last year at the New Century Disco in Nha Trang.
October 26 2006 Police lean on gang kingpin in central Vietnam resort Police are seeking an indictment and arrest warrant for a gang leader involved in armed turf war with another gang in central Khanh Hoa province resort town of Nha Trang.
October 26 2006 Vietnam Airlines bomb hoaxers get their comeuppance Vietnam Airlines said three bomb hoaxers who delayed its aircraft on three different occasions in the last few months are no longer welcome aboard its flights. The national flag carrier said from next month Nguyen Thai Son, 33, of Hanoi, Bach Truong Son, 51, and Lam Tan Ngan, 38, both of Ho Chi Minh City would be personae non grata. The three had all joked about having bombs in their bags after boarding flights, holding up take off and leaving hundreds of passengers delayed and fuming.
October 26 2006 Ferry sinks in Vietnam; six dead, seven missing At least six people died and seven are missing after a ferry boat carrying over 20 passengers capsized Tuesday October 24 in northern Vietnam due to unknown reasons.
October 18 2006 Money sought to hide massive corruption: arrested official A Vietnamese public official, arrested this year in a multimillion-dollar corruption scam, has told police his subordinate once told him about a person who could cover up his crimes for US$200,000. A source told Thanh Nien Saturday that the police were looking into this confession made by Bui Tien Dung, ex-director of the transport ministry’s Project Management Unit 18 (PMU18).
October 18 2006 Gang suspicion he stole money led to member’s torture: source Vietnamese police have discovered the reason for the fallout within a drug gang that led to the torture and attempted murder of one of its members: suspicion he had stolen the gang’s money. A source told Thanh Nien Saturday, October 14 that the tortured man, Tran Minh Duong, 39, had been handed US$10,000 by the gang to buy drugs in the mountains in Nghe An province bordering Laos.
October 18 2006 Police catch two only hours after armed robbery Southern Dong Nai provincial province Friday October 13 nabbed two culprits just three hours after their brazen armed robbery at a jewelry store.
October 18 2006 Vietnam road accidents kill 963 in September A total of 963 people were killed in September in road accidents across Vietnam, a slight reduction compared to earlier months, the National Committee for Traffic Safety has reported.
October 18 2006 Vietnam Airlines to sue bomb pranksters Vietnam Airlines said Thursday it is set to sue a bunch of bomb hoaxers who held up several flights in the last six months. The national carrier’s deputy general director, Nguyen Thanh Trung, told reporters that airlines officials had met with Hanoi police to provide evidence against a passenger who held up a flight at Hanoi airport last Saturday.
October 18 2006 Drug chief nabbed for trying to kill minion Police in northern Vietnam arrested Friday October 13 the leader of a drug gang for torturing and attempting to kill an ex-member who has blown the whistle on the gang.
October 11 2006 Brief News - October 9 - 11, 2009 1. Buu Huy, deputy director of An Giang Province-based seafood processor Afiex, returned to Hanoi on Monday after he had been detained in Belgium by Interpol on alleged charges of trade fraud and tax evasion since May. 2. An oil tanker on the way from Vung Tau to HCMC sank off the coast of Can Gio District on Monday, with one person killed and four rescued. (SGGP) 3.High tides are forecast for HCMC tomorrow, according to the southern weather station. (Thanh Nien) 4.
October 11 2006 Robbers grab $188,000 on HCMC street in broad daylight An audacious heist in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday morning, October 2, 2006 saw a gang make away with VND3 billion (US$188,000) in broad daylight The gang rammed a motorbike into the back of a car in which Le Thi Hong Trang, 27, an accountant at the Vietnam-US Society English Training Center (VUS), was carrying cash for paying into a bank. The car driver Trung Nghia stepped out to inspect the ‘accident’.
October 11 2006 Another Vietnam flight delayed after bomb hoax A flight destined for Ho Chi Minh City was delayed Sunday as three passengers said they carried a bomb in their luggage, holding up take off and leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. An immediate police search found no explosives on board.
October 11 2006 Police bust poorly-planned caper Ho Chi Minh City police nabbed all four robbers involved in an audacious VND3 billion (US$188,000) street robbery within 72 hours of the crime Thursday.
October 11 2006 Vietnam combats counterfeit plague Vietnam’s General Department of Customs has urged its affiliates to keep close watch to prevent the transportation of counterfeit money across the border. The General Department told local departments to work with security forces and border guards on the local level to patrol frontier routes and border gate areas to uncover any transport, storage and circulation of fake Vietnamese currency.
October 11 2006 Police still hunt for fleeing swindler Vietnam Ministry of Public Security has sought help from the Interpol to find the mastermind of a fraudulent loan ring that stole billions of dong from the state. Investigations has revealed that from 2003 to 2004, Tuan, then director of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Thien Tai Ltd.
October 11 2006 50 Arrested for crimes 1.
October 11 2006 Victim-turned-trafficker nabbed for smuggling children to China A 22-year-old woman, herself a victim of child trafficking a decade ago, has been caught smuggling at least two Vietnamese girls to China, and arrested. Hanoi police arrested Le Thi Cuc on Wednesday, October 4, 2006. She was sold to China at the age of 11. Seasoned in China, she returned to Vietnam and teamed up with another trafficker named Ly. In July, Cuc bought a 14-year-old and an 18-year-old girls for CNY4,200 (US$531) and CNY5,000 ($632) respectively from Ly.
October 04 2006 Brief News - October 2-4, 2006 HCMC needs VND2,000 billion in investment to be better able to fight fires, according to Nguyen Manh Hung, deputy director of the HCMC Fire Brigade Service. The "Y" Bridge in HCMC was closed on Monday preventing the free flow of traffic between Districts 5 and 8 and causing blockages along the Nguyen Tri Phuong andChanh Hung bridges. An Giang has recorded 15 deaths due to floods or riverbank landslides so far this year.
October 04 2006 Officials get lighter sentences in multi-million-dollar oil scam The Vietnamese supreme prosecutor's office has approved a reduction in punishment for three officials involved in a petrol industry scam that caused losses of millions of US dollars. A source said Saturday that the People's Supreme Procuracy accepted the proposal from investigation police to impose administrative rather than criminal penalties against the three, part of 37 involved in the scam.
October 04 2006 Police grill Hanoi businesswoman for alleged fraud Police questioned a Hanoi businesswoman who failed to return US$98,125 she took from a company as advance payment for securing it construction permits for two projects. They called in Duong Thi Thu Phong, director of the Hai Duong Consulting and Trading Joint-Stock Company, for questioning on Tuesday.
September 28 2006 Brief news - September 27 - 28, 2006 * Xangsane Typhoon is forecast to move toward Vietnam’s northern coast tomorrow and Saturday. (Thanh Nien) * The HCMC Department of Customs has fined Noni Vina Ltd. Co. in District 3 nearly VND99 million for tax evasion. (NLD) * The Tuy Hoa City People’s Court in Phu Yen Province ruled on Tuesday that Phu Yen Province police would have to pay VND126 million in compensation for two co-owners of a shrimp farm that lost VND210 million after a police investigation left 1,500 shrimps dead.
September 28 2006 Brief News - September 25 - 26, 2006 * More than 400 smuggled diamonds worth US$150,330 were discovered by the Tan Son Nhat International Airport customs and police. (Tuoi Tre) * The People’s Supreme Prosecution Bureau has approved a decision to investigate the former deputy head Government inspector Luong Cao Khai, who is accused of taking bribes. * A ship with 23 fishermen on board from Quang Nam Province were saved on Sunday after they drifted out to sea. They are recovering at Quy Nhon Port in Binh Dinh Province.
September 28 2006 Vietnam offers amnesty to more inmates Sept 2006 Vietnam will grant clemency for more prisoners in October 30-31 following a major presidential amnesty early this month that freed over 5,000 inmates. The consideration of inmates eligible for the additional amnesty will be carried out from Sep. 25 to Oct.
September 28 2006 Men plead guilty of smuggling 1,500 diamonds in Vietnam Two Vietnamese nabbed Friday, September 22, 2006 in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International airport for illegally transporting some 1,500 loose diamonds have confessed and were charged with smuggling. Nguyen Huu Tai, 40, and Tran Binh Tam, 56, were arrested after they arrived on a late evening flight from Hong Kong. Officers found handfuls of diamonds carefully wrapped in carbon paper and hidden inside reading lamps to avoid being detected by the airport scanners.
September 21 2006 Brief News - Sept.19 - 21, 2006 * The southern security agency on Tuesday arrested Nguyen Van Tuan from Hai Duong Province for circulating counterfeit money. * The owner of the ship "Long Fu" has agreed to pay US$320,000 in compensation for damages caused to the Thu Thiem ferry terminal on June 7 after it hit the floating wharf. (Tuoi Tre) * Quang Tri Province's public security authorities handed over nine rhino horns on Tuesday to the Vietnam Nature Museum.
September 20 2006 Retired Hanoi man on hunger strike for police humiliation 60-year-old man in Hanoi has been on a hunger strike outside the local police station for a week to protest “humiliation” by cops who handcuffed and forced him onto a police truck following a domestic row. Nguyen Anh Phap, a retired state employee, has been lying in front of Cau Giay district’s Nghia Do ward precinct since Monday morning. On Sunday morning Phap and his ex-wife had a big fight which attracted the attention of police who asked him to come with them to their office.
September 20 2006 Vietnam health official steals $65,000 from bird flu fund The top health official in a Vietnamese province embezzled public funds of over VND1 billion (US$65,100) earmarked for an anti-bird flu campaign two years ago, police said Friday September 15, 2006.
September 20 2006 Disgraced journalist caught blackmailing businesses After being tipped off, Vietnam police caught red-handed Sunday a journalist of a newspaper in Hanoi trying to extort money from a local business. Initial investigations showed Nguyen Hung Son, correspondent of the Hanoi-based Dien Dan Doanh Nghiep (Business Forum) newspaper, had coerced the Hai Van international transport company to offer him a bribery totaling US$10,000, otherwise Son would leak out information tainting the company’s reputation.
September 20 2006 Vietnam court wants to up rap for ex-deputy minister to death A former Vietnamese deputy trade minister and a subordinate who allegedly took US$24,000 in bribes for granting textile export quotas could face the death sentence.
September 20 2006 HCMC drug firm officials indicted on smuggling char Eight officials of a pharmaceutical company in Ho Chi Minh City will stand trial for alleged smuggling unauthorized drugs into Vietnam. The People’s Supreme Court has recently completed the indictment and handed over all documents on the alleged illegal activities of the HCMC Medical Import-Export Corp.
September 15 2006 Brief News - September 14 -15, 2006 1. A man robbed then stole a taxi in Hanoi on Tuesday, on his way from My Dinh bus station to Noi Bai, before crashing and fleeing. 2. A house in HCMC's District 8 was burnt down on Tuesday following an electrical short circuit caused by the heavy rain. (Lao Dong) 3. Half a million liters of gasoline leaked out at Nha Be General Warehouse on Tuesday's night when the oil product was being pumped into the storehouse from a vessel named Petrolimex .
September 14 2006 Vietnam bank official arrested in massive commission scam Police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested Wednesday a top state-owned bank official and placed a businessman under house arrest for stealing almost US$194,000 from the treasury by committing fraud. Chau To Long, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Sai Gon Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SCB) was taken in and his relative, Chau Thanh Nhan, director of the Hoang Viet Phat Telecommunication Equipment Ltd.
September 14 2006 Former police official arrested for corruption link Vietnamese police arrested Wednesday a former police lieutenant colonel for brokering bribes in a massive corruption scandal centered around a transport ministry agency. Nguyen Dinh Toan has been charged with receiving $9,500 and VND50 million ($3,100) from the former head of PMU-18, the ministry agency, to influence the investigation into his activities.
September 14 2006 Arrested Vietnam businessman threatened to kill investigators A Vietnamese businessman arrested for swindling US$10 million from his partners once threatened to kill policemen investigating his case, a top police official revealed at a press conference Monday, September 11, 2006. Nguyen Tien Luc, a senior investigator in the public security ministry, said Nguyen Duc Chi, former head of the Rusalka resort in Nha Trang town, sent messages on his and other investigators' mobile phones threatening to "beat to death anyone investigating the case".
September 14 2006 Vietnam state officials jailed for importing inferior equipment A Vietnamese court has sentenced two former state company directors to 5-6 years in jail for "negligence" for importing low-quality equipment from Russia for a modern glass factory. The court in the central Khanh Hoa province Tuesday sentenced Nguyen Thanh Khiet, former director of the province-based Cam Ranh Glass Factory to six years and ordered him to pay over VND3 billion (US$187,500) in compensation to the factory.
September 14 2006 Tobacco company management to stand trial for smuggling Police in Vietnam's Lao Cai mountainous province have arrested and charged the management of a local tobacco company Thursday for faking contracts to smuggle tobacco products into Vietnam. On Tuesday, police arrested Phan Thi Ngoc Lien and Nguyen Duy Tan, director and deputy director of the the Lao Cai-based Thien Loi Hoa Company. A search of the company premises Thursday turned up important documentation linked to the case, which was then confiscated.
September 14 2006 Northern company found manufacturing copycat drugs A pharmaceutical company in northern Ha Tay province Wednesday was forced to destroy bulk packages of drugs found to be similar to a French medicinal product. The Hatay Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company (Hataphar) demolished the 1,920 copycat empty packages under the supervision of inspectors of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (MoSTE) and the C15 police of the Ministry of Public Securities.
September 14 2006 Vietnam jails 29 inmates for staging riots A court in southern Vietnam sentenced 29 inmates to up to 13 years in prison for staging riots, AP news agency reported Thursday September 14, 2006. The prisoners were convicted of causing public disturbances, attacking authorities and damaging property.
September 14 2006 Four bus drivers to be tried for smuggling Four drivers of a Cambodia - Vietnam passenger bus route are to face the courts after they were caught red-handed smuggling a large amount of goods into Vietnam in January. Ho Chi Minh City police said they completed investigating the ring and would hand the case over to the city's prosecutor's office for officially issuing warrants to indict them. The drivers, all residing in HCMC, include Le Van Chet, 44 Le Phuoc Thuyen, 21 Nguyen Bi Hung, 42 and Pham Anh Quoc, 22.
September 12 2006 Five men to face charges for $10 mln kidnapping Police in Vietnam have wrapped up investigation of the kidnapping of a rich youth for ransom late last year in Ho Chi Minh City and are set to frame charges against the five kidnappers. Mastermind Pham Duc Binh, 35, and four associates - most of them in their late twenties - kidnapped at gunpoint Tram Trong Ngan, the son of Tram Be, a wealthy philanthropist in Ho Chi Minh City, last December and demanded a US$10 million ransom.
September 12 2006 Traffickers executed in Vietnam’s largest drug bust Three drug traffickers were executed by firing squad in Ho Chi Minh City Wednesday for smuggling over 800kg of heroin, the biggest-ever drug haul in Vietnam. The three men, Cam Minh Tam, Tran Anh Toan, and Ho Anh Tuan - dubbed Tuan "rabbit" - were members of Vietnam's largest drug gang, led by 45-year-old Nguyen Van Hai, alias Hai Luan. Police busted the gang in August 2004. In 2005 a HCMC court sentenced 16 members to death and 11 to life terms.
September 12 2006 More arrests in illegal destruction of residential home in Hanoi Hanoi police arrested a man in Hai Ba Trung district Thursday for his involvement with a lieutenant colonel who organized the illegal demolition of a residential home in June. Nguyen Vinh Thanh, 31, was charged with destroying the house of Nguyen Thi Thanh Binh in Trung Phung ward of Dong Da District in May.
September 12 2006 Thais to deport hijacker to Vietnam A Thai court ordered Thursday the extradition to Vietnam of a man who faces charges of slandering Vietnam's government and violating its security. Vietnam applauded the decision, saying it would help prevent similar violations in the future. Ly Tong, a Vietnamese-born US citizen, hijacked an aircraft from Thailand in 2000 and flew it over the Vietnamese capital during a visit by then US President Bill Clinton.
September 12 2006 Vietnam border police seize contraband from China 1. Vietnam border police seize contraband from ChinaPolice in Vietnam’s border areas with China seized large quantities of smuggled goods. Some 3,000 eggs and 208 kg of candies and cookies were confiscated by Lao Cai province police on Thursday. Police in Cao Bang province seized another 2,800 eggs, seven disc drives, 10 parabolic tuners and antennas, and seven TVs smuggled in from China. They have filed charges. 2.
September 12 2006 Five drug runners sentenced to death in Vietnam A court in northern Vietnam Friday, September 8, 2006 handed down death sentences to five members of a drug trafficking ring convicted of smuggling almost 30 kg of heroin and some methamphetamine.
September 06 2006 Vietnam finance official arrested for $875,000 ‘negligence’ A former financial official has been arrested in Vietnam for issuing price guidelines that were well above market prices enabling an unscrupulous equipment vendor to cheat the treasury of $875,000. The police arrested Tuesday Nguyen Van Thuc, former director of the finance ministry's Pricing Center and placed his subordinate Nguyen Thi Lan under house arrest.
September 06 2006 Police probe Hanoi tax collector for pocketing collections Police in Hanoi have begun to investigate a tax collector who in the last five years pocketed tax money worth VND3 billion (US$187,500) instead of paying into the treasury. Nguyen Thi Phuong Mai who was on duty in Hang Gai Ward of Hoan Kiem Dist had ordered all shops, companies, and restaurants on the crowded Hang Gai Street to pay their taxes directly to her.
September 06 2006 Vietnamese man demands compensation for wrongful incarceration A Ho Chi Minh City man who was wrongfully jailed for over four years for murder and robbery has claimed almost VND800 million in compensation. Truong Ba Nhan, 44, of the city's Binh Thanh district was arrested and jailed in January 2002.
September 06 2006 Brief News - September 1-6, 2006 1. More than 260 people in Muong La District in Son La Province were hospitalized last week for food poisoning. No one died. (TTXVN) 2. An interdisciplinary team on liquidating properties in Minh Phung Company case has asked the HCMC Service of Justice to temporarily suspend a legal enforcement officer of the city for deliberately breaking an appeal court's decisions. 3.
September 01 2006 HCMC police nab major fake liquor gang Ho Chi Minh City police Thursday, August 31, 2006 busted a major ring producing fake foreign liquor and seized thousands of bottles. The spurious brew, bearing famous labels like Hennessy, Chivas Regal, Johnnie Walker, and others were being distributed to restaurants, bars, and shops in the city. The police quoted Nguyen Van Huu, 33, the ring leader, as saying they produced the fake stuff by mixing a quantity of the real thing with an unnamed liquid.
September 01 2006 Vietnam Airlines mulling ban on passenger for bomb hoax Vietnam Airlines is considering banning a man from boarding any of its flights after he "joked" about a bomb, delaying five flights on August 18. Nguyen Thai Son, 33, boarded a flight from Hanoi to Khanh Hoa province and, when it was all set to takeoff, said he had a bomb in his bag. Panicked flight attendants informed the authorities and the aircraft with 150 people aboard was delayed for security screening.
August 31 2006 Brief News - August 29, 30, 31, 2006 1. * Phan Thanh, head inspector of Binh Thuan Province Post Office, died when a tipper truck crushed him yesterday. (Phap Luat) 2. * Lam Dong Province’s People’s Court sentenced two people to death for the robbery and murder of a car driver yesterday. Three others received sentences of between seven years to life. (Thanh Nien) 3. * Hanoi People’s Court sentenced to death to Pham Duy Luat, director of Hai Phu Son Co., for defrauding and appropriating property earlier this week.
August 31 2006 Two Vietnamese jailed for abetting gang traffic Chinese children Two Vietnamese men were sentenced to prison Tuesday for assisting a criminal gang in trafficking Chinese children first to Vietnam and then onto Cambodia where they were sold. A Ho Chi Minh City court handed down five and four year terms to Nguyen Van Cuong, 35, and Lam Thanh Hong, 34. Cuong had the task of picking up Chinese children and hiding them in Ho Chi Minh City.
August 31 2006 Top state firm officials to stand trial for fuel scam Fifteen people including the director of a state-run petrol company will go on trial soon in Hanoi for embezzling millions of dollars between 1996 and 2003. The Supreme Procuracy – the prosecutor’s office – on Monday sent indictment warrants against the 15 to its local office for prosecution.
August 31 2006 Austrian pedophile gets jail term for abusing Vietnamese minor An court of Innsbruck, a western Austria city, has sentenced a pedophile to eight years in prison for molesting a Vietnamese minor when he was in Vietnam last year. Peter Mueller, 69, was arrested on Dec. 26, 2005 at his rented house in Ho Chi Minh City where he lived with a 14-year-old boy.
August 31 2006 Four other Vietnam customs officials pinned in tax evasion ring Ho Chi Minh City police have identified four more customs official involved in a fabric smuggling ring which have evaded at least 60.4 billion ($3.77 million) in import tax. Three are customs officials from Ho Chi Minh City in charge of receiving and screening import applications and one from central Quang Nam province. Two customs officials from Ho Chi Minh City had been arrested in March this year.
August 31 2006 Vietnam to amnesty six foreign prisoners Six foreign prisoners will be among a few thousand inmates freed under a presidential amnesty to mark Vietnam’s National Day on September 2, the government announced Monday. President Nguyen Minh Triet has approved a list of 5,352 convicts for parole. "Vietnam combines severe punishment with a policy of leniency and reeducation for offenders.
August 28 2006 Khanh Hoa official to go to court over fraud, mismanagement HA NOI - The People's Supreme Procuracy has approved the Ministry of Public Security's decision to bring former Chairman of Khanh Hoa People's Committee Tran Minh Duan to trial for violating State regulations on economic management. Duan was allegedly involved in a major fraud with Nguyen Duc Chi who ran the Rusalka project in Khanh Hoa Province.
August 28 2006 VN businessman says he did not violate law BRUSSELS - Belgium's Court of Appeals on Friday brought to trial the case of Buu Huy, deputy director of the An Giang Agriculture and Food Import/Export Company (Afiex), who is allegedly involved in a catfish trading fraud between Viet Nam and the US. He was detained by Belgian police after a request made by the US authorities. At the trial, which took 45 minutes, Huy was questioned on deliberately using wrong labels of catfish products exported to the US market to evade taxes.
August 28 2006 Brief News - August 28, 2006 1. State President Nguyen Minh Triet signed a decision granting early amnesty to some 5,352 prison inmates last Friday, to commemorate the 61st National Day anniversary, which is on September 2.2. Vietnam and Laos signed a memorandum of understanding las Thursday in Hanoi, on joint cooperation in the fight against bird flu an dother such potentially easily transmitted diseases, until 2010.3.
August 28 2006 Smuggled spirits flow through HCM City markets HCM CITY - Nearly half of all imported spirits sold in HCM City are stamped with counterfeit duty-paid labels, said Nguyen Tri Vi, a representative of city's Market Watch Department. To avoid the detection of counterfeit products, many shops in the city use the counterfeit stamps on imported spirits rather than official stamps from the customs department, he said.
August 27 2006 Unauthorized overseas jobs recruiter arrested in Vietnam Police in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi have arrested a woman for illegally taking US$150,000 from people for placing them in overseas jobs. Vu Thi Tinh, 47, of Thanh Xuan district, allegedly took $115,500 and VND589 million ($36,789) as service charges though she was not licensed to recruit people for jobs in foreign countries. Tinh, who has been remanded to custody, has so far returned $24,000 and VND47 million ($2,935) to her victims.
August 27 2006 Chinese sex toys, drugs found in truck in Vietnam metro Vietnamese authorities seized Thursday, August 24, 2006 a truck carrying around one ton of Chinese made aphrodisiacs and other drugs and sex toys in Ho Chi Minh City. The city police and market monitoring agencies found 25 cartons and large bags containing thousands of viagra pills - meant originally for sexual erectile dysfunction but sold illegally in Vietnam as a sex aid - and other drugs for sexual stimulation in the form of tablets, powder, and liquid.
August 27 2006 Two nabbed in Hanoi with forged currency bills Police in Hanoi arrested two men, a Chinese and a Vietnamese, Tuesday for carrying VND100 million worth fake currency bills. Following a surprise check on a café in Cau Giay District, they caught Zhou Wen Lin, 59, from China’s Guangxi province, and Nguyen Chung Thoc, 51, from Hanoi, with forged VND500,000 polymer notes. Thoc was in the process of taking Lin, who had crossed into Lang Son from China, for delivery of the fake money.
August 27 2006 Decade-long embezzlement catches up to Hanoi tax collector A Hanoi tax collector has recently handed in over VND2 billion (US$125,000) to police after they discovered the official had been stealing taxes for a decade.
August 27 2006 Illegal numbers ring smashed, 40 arrested Ho Chi Minh City police Tuesday arrested 40 people, demolishing a well-organized illegal numbers ring based on daily results of state lotteries in Vietnam, reported Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper Wednesday August 23, 2006 In initial reports, every day punters appeared to have bet billions of Vietnam dong (US$1 equaling VND16,000) with the ring. On Tuesday, police simultaneously raided ten different bookie venues of the ring in the city and caught at the scene 40 people betting or receiving money.
August 23 2006 Two Iranians arrested for stealing and causing accident VietNamNet Bridge - Two Iranian men were arrested last Friday at Giai Oan Pagoda, Yen Tu relics, Uong Bi district, Quang Ninh province. In the afternoon on Friday, August 17, the two Iranian tourists came to the shop of Pham Thi Dung at the Tuan Chau tourist site in Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province to buy some products. They paid Dung with cash of high face value. While Dung was seeking small banknotes to give back, they stole VND1.8 million and got in their car.
August 22 2006 Police bust drug-selling bar in south Vietnam metro Police raided a café/bar in Ho Chi Minh City Wednesday and arrested nearly 80 people including the manager for drug use and possessing drugs and weapons. Following an early morning raid on the bar in Pham The Hien street, district 8, they caught customers dancing frenziedly, high reportedly on ecstasy.
August 22 2006 Vietnam considers convicts for September amnesty The Vietnamese council that selects prisoners to be amnestied to mark national events met in Hanoi Wednesday ahead of National Day, September 2. After choosing the candidates the Central Council for Amnesty Consultation will submit the list to the president.
August 22 2006 More radioactive substance goes missing in Vietnam A small quantity of radioactive substance has been reported missing from a cement company in northern Vietnam, just months after a similar incident in Hanoi. The Song Da Cement Joint Stock Company in Hoa Binh province discovered the loss on August 8 from a device in the production line. The device had been removed for repairs days earlier.
August 22 2006 Vietnam vice mayor indicted, home searched after foreign trip The deputy head of a provincial government in central Vietnam is to go to trial soon in a million-dollar land scam after he was indicted, notified of his charge and had his house searched. The public security ministry, a central police agency, on Thursday searched the house of Tran Minh Duan, former first vice chairman of the Khanh Hoa Provincial People?s Committee - local government - and notified him of the charge, a legal procedure prior to a trial.
August 22 2006 Bank robbers busted in southern Vietnam metro Police of Ho Chi Minh City early Wednesday nabbed four members of a robbery ring responsible for brazen thefts in broad daylight since May 2006. Police began investigating after a spate of bank robberies which was suspected to be committed by the same group in HCMC and southeast provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai.
August 22 2006 Accepting bribes to save death row inmate A former Hanoi policeman was arrested last Monday August 7, 2006 for allegedly receiving VND420 million (US$26,250) in bribes to save a death roll inmate from execution. A source said former captain Nguyen Van Dua received the money several years ago from drug trafficker Duong Van Chot's wife, who promised to pay out the policeman's demand of $60,000 if her husband did not face the firing squad.
August 22 2006 Vietnam Airlines to sue passenger for bomb hoax National carrier Vietnam Airlines said it will claim damages of US$25,000 from a passenger who "joked" about a bomb and held up five flights last week. Minutes before a flight was set to leave Hanoi's Noi Bai Airport for the central Khanh Hoa province last Friday morning August 18, 2006 Nguyen Thai Son, 33, said he had a bomb in his bag. Flight attendants immediately delayed the flight and all 150 passengers and their luggage were searched.
August 15 2006 Misappropriating int’l credit cards Hanoi police recently arrested a bank employee for embezzling VND2.6 billion (US$162,500) from 57 international credit cards he stole from clients. Nguyen Le Viet, 29, an employee from the Hanoi-based EXIM bank was detained for three months Friday while his wife Nguyen Le Thuy Mai, 23, was put under house arrest.
August 15 2006 Fake job-related documents on sale in Vietnam If you are illiterate and in poor health but want a job, go to Vietnam?s southern Dong Nai province where fake high school diplomas and health certificates to be attached with job applications are on sale. Thanh Nien correspondents located an agency in the provincial capital, Bien Hoa, selling such documents. "Dossiers on sale here" was scribbled in white chalk on a small board in front.
August 15 2006 Khanh Hoa leader to face trial for economic crimes KHANH HOA - A deputy chairwoman of the southern province of Khanh Hoa's People's Committee may have to stand trial for her alleged violation of the State's regulation on economic management, according to the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Agency. Nguyen Thi Thu Hang was discovered to have signed exemptions from land tax for the Rusalka Resort project of alleged swindler Nguyen Duc Chi, for seven years running.
August 15 2006 Brief News - August 14, 2006 1. A Vietnamese air force jet fighter crashed during a training session into Hon Kho Mountain in Hoa Son Commune, Ninh Son District, in the central Ninh Thuan Province. No one was injured in the incident and the pilot ejected safely. (VNS) 2. Four out of the five Vietnamese sailors, who were kidnapped in Somalia in April, have returned home safely. The other has stayed behind to continue working on the ship. (Tin Tuc) 3.
August 10 2006 Three caught carrying fake currency into Vietnam from China Two Chinese and a Vietnamese were caught Monday crossing into Vietnam from China with VND101.5 million (US$6,344) worth forged currency notes. Wen A Jiu, 29, and Zhong Meiling, 14, of China’s Guangxi province, and Nguyen Van Hung, 37, of Vietnam’s Ha Tay province were nabbed by a border patrol at the Tan Thanh checkpoint in Lang Son province. They had 201 fake polymer VND500,000 notes.
August 10 2006 Top official dismissed from Vietnam Communist Party A top agriculture official in central Vietnam has just been dismissed from the Communist Party for using state funds to buy low-quality crop strains at inflated prices in 2002, causing a US$213,000 loss. Mai Minh Anh, director of the Phu Yen provincial Department for Agriculture and Rural Development has signed three contracts worth VND4.2 billion ($262,500) to buy over 900 tons of sugarcane and cassava strains meant to be distributed to farmers for sowing following a devastating flood.
August 10 2006 Vietnam cop charged with bribery to abet gangster’s criminal acts Vietnamese police are investigating allegations that a colleague received bribes to clean up the scene of a fatal road accident caused in 2003 by a gangster while trafficking lumber. The chauffeur said Lieutenant-Colonel Q. of the Dong Nai province police force had abetted Hai Chi in hushing up the trafficking and accident which killed three. Hai Chi had handed Q.
August 07 2006 Vietnam state employees caught illegally selling airplane fuel Police in Hanoi nabbed Monday several state employees for illegally offloading aircraft fuel from two tankers en route to the airport. The Vietnam Air Petrol Company workers were selling the fuel to some private enterprises in Hai Duong province when they were caught red-handed. The police have since detained 10 such tankers and a number of suspects. A company official told Tuoi Tre the tankers were carrying Jet A1 fuel from Hai Phong city to Hanoi's Noi Bai airport.
August 07 2006 Vietnam policemen to be prosecuted for being soft on criminals Police in Vietnam are seeking a warrant to prosecute two of their own for not thoroughly investigating two incidents of assault carried out by a notorious crime gang. Investigators Nguyen Quang Bang and Vuong Dinh Hop of the southern Binh Thuan province police force, who are under suspension, will be prosecuted for "irresponsibility" if the prosecutor's office issues the warrant.
August 07 2006 Ministries asked to reprimand negligent officials in quota scam The Vietnam Prime Minister instructed the trade and industry ministries Thursday to reprimand officials responsible for negligence in the infamous quota-selling scam, even though they weren't directly involved. PM Nguyen Tan Dung also instructed the two ministries to report their disciplinary measures to him at the earliest possible.
August 07 2006 Brief News - August 7, 2006 Some 60 Vietnamese guest workers evacuated from Lebanon arrived safely back at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport on Friday and Saturday. (TTXVN)HCMC’s Pasteur Institute announced a negative test result for a 35-year-old man from Kien Giang Province last Friday, who was suspected of having caught H5N1 virus. (SGT)Trains killed two people and injured another in accidents at Crossings No. 6 & 9 in HCMC’s Phu Nhuan District on Friday and Saturday.
August 02 2006 Brief news - August 2, 2006 Buu Huy, deputy director of An Giang Import-Export Foodstuff and Agriculture Product Co. (Afiex), who has been detained in Belgium by Interpol on charges of trade fraud and tax evasion, has asked not to be extradited to the United States.
August 01 2006 Brief News - August 1, 2006 1. Two of 14 British tourists, who visited Voi (elephant) mountain in Duc Trong District in Lam Dong Province on Sunday, were saved from an accident. (SGGP) 2. Heavy rain in Mu Cang Chai District in Yen Bai Province yesterday caused landslides at Khau Pha Pass, thus jamming traffic. 3. A truck was upturned in Hai Van Tunnel yesterday for its two tyres behind were fallen off. (TTXVN) 4.
August 01 2006 One more detained in corrupt transport agency probe A transport ministry office manager was arrested Friday on a charge of embezzlement as police expand the investigation into Vietnam's biggest corruption scandal. The official, Bui Thu Hanh, is accused of faking vouchers and invoices to appropriate over VND112 million (US$7,000) from the state budget.
August 01 2006 Liquid spill sends ten to the hospital A car accident in Ho Chi Minh City Friday morning caused 12,000 liters of sulfuric acid to spill over the trans-Asia roadway in Thu Duc District, sending 10 people to the emergency room. A lorry carrying four tanks of acid was forced over the lane divider by an overtaking container truck, the tumble causing the hazardous liquid to spill over 200 meters of road.
July 27 2006 Man implicated in Rusalka case set up bogus firms: police HA NOI - An multinational police investigation has revealed Nguyen Duc Chi fraudulently obtained properties at the Rusalka project and set up bogus companies in the US, Russia and Spain to defraud local authorities, Vietnamese police said yesterday. Police in the US, Russia and Spain worked with their counterparts in Viet Nam to investigate the legal status of some companies implicated in the case.
July 27 2006 Thai Binh Education Department director arrested, to be charged HA NOI - The Thai Binh Police yesterday arrested former Director of the provincial Department of Education and Training Mac Kim Ton, the provincial Procuracy?s deputy director Hoang Van Vinh said. The arrest followed a decision to prosecute Ton and search his home and office, Vinh said.
July 27 2006 Interpol probes drug dealers’ alleged money laundering ring HCM CITY - Interpol Viet Nam and investigators from the Public Security Ministry are investigating the alleged laundering of illicit funds by a Vietnamese-Canadian reportedly involved in a drug trafficking network in both Canada and the US.
July 26 2006 Deputy inspector summoned for bribery, others examined Police summoned the former Government Inspectorate deputy head Monday on accusations that he had received bribes from corrupt petrol officials. Other officials involved are also being investigated. Tran Quoc Truong was in charge of directing a government inspection on a dubious PetroVietnam project in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province between 2001 and 2003.
July 26 2006 Drug dealers sentenced to die A court in the northern Vietnam province of Dien Bien last week handed down three death sentences and five other life imprisonment sentences after 18 smugglers were convicted of cross-border drug trafficking. The smuggling ring of 18, led by Nguyen Thi Van, was found to have sold more than 11.6kg of heroin since the end of 2004.
July 26 2006 Vietnam court sentences culprits in war invalid forgery scam Fourteen people were sentenced Monday in a scam where nine "brokers" forged medical documents certifying false war invalid status and bribed officials to overlook the forgery and grant fraudulent benefits. Vietnamese war invalids enjoy certain benefits thanks to their service. The recent scam involves brokers receiving money from "clients" who are not war invalids but wish to be certified as such to receive payoffs.
July 26 2006 Whistle-blowing legislator threatened by anonymous letter An official of the People's Council's legal team in the Mekong Delta Ca Mau province said Monday that he received an anonymous threat demanding he stop inquiry in local construction sector wrongdoings. Duong Anh Dung said he received the mail at 4:30pm last Wednesday, several days before the opening of a meeting of the provincial legislative agency, the Ca Mau province People?s Council.
July 24 2006 Company director nabbed for forging fake bank guarantee Vietnam police nabbed a director of a limited company in Ho Chi Minh City July 19 for forging a letter of credit from a bank that no longer exists. Nguyen Van Ngat, Director of Dai Phat joint-stock Company in District 11, was arrested after receiving funds to provide the guarantees for local Tan Truong Co-operative.
July 24 2006 Vietnam MP detained in fraud probe A member of parliament and former senior official of Thai Binh province is now in police custody on charges of abuse of office, allegedly earning him VND120 million in bribes. Mac Kim Ton, 55, is to be detained for four months for further investigation in his alleged role in a VND4.2 billion fraud case cracked by local police in mid June.
July 19 2006 Brief News - July 19-20 1. * The Government and relevant agencies are discussing ways to evacuate Vietnamese people in Lebanon, said Le Dung, spokeperson for the Foreign Ministry. 2. * Four of six pupils died on Monday as their boat capsized in Que Son District in the central province of Quang Nam. (Tuoi Tre) 3. * Anti-drug police yesterday detained two foreigners and three Vietnamese for transporting more than 1,000 ecstasy pills from abroad to HCMC.
July 19 2006 Security guards nailed for kidnapping Ho Chi Minh City’s court sentenced Tuesday July 18, 2006 two security guards with to prison for 18 years and 12 years respectively for a kidnapping attempt in 2005. Security guards in Diamond Plaza, a trading centre in downtown HCMC, Pham Ngoc Dinh and Dinh Thi Ngoc Dieu, also lovers, kidnapped the 6-year-old son of a supermarket director there. The duo later requested a US$100,000 ransom while Dieu carried the child to Hanoi and later to central Quang Tri province to avoid police.
July 19 2006 Vietnam police bust prostitution ring in Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City police have just busted a prostitution ring after catching three couples ‘in the act’ at a city hotel on Monday, July 17, 2006, detaining three prostitutes and four pimps. After making a surprise check on the six-floor Trieu Han Hotel in District 1, the police caught three couples red-handed having paid sex on the first floor.
July 19 2006 Illegal human trafficking ring leader behind bars A Hanoi court Wednesday, July 19, 2006 sentenced one person in jail and put the other two under house arrest for running and abetting a ring that illegally sent people abroad. Vu Thi Tuyet, 57, director of the Hanoi-based NTT Company, received a 42-month prison sentence for illegally transporting people abroad and forging stamps and documents.
July 18 2006 Tons of expired Coca Cola materials destroyed in Vietnam Health authorities in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday began destroying over 12 tons of outdated drink materials found at Coca-Cola Beverages Vietnam Ltd. Days before, municipal inspectors discovered almost 7.5 tons of aromatic spice material with 2003 expiry dates in the company’s warehouse. The case was reported to HCMC People’s Committee which decided to set up an inspection squad with members from health and environment departments.
July 18 2006 Counterfeit zippers destroyed in Hanoi after appeal Hanoi’s market administration department burned 400kg of fake zippers labeled YKK Monday in Hanoi, a full two years after the case began. In July of 2004, the city market watchdog raided Hung Long Ltd in Hai Ba Trung District, confiscating a mass of counterfeit goods, which included the zippers. The agency decided to confiscate the illegal goods, causing the company to launch an appeal at the city People’s Court.
July 18 2006 Brief News - July 18 1. * The Government Inspectorate is considering disciplining its officials, who took money from a company that had been inspected. 2. * The Ministry of Public Security’s investigation bureau has prosecuted Nguyen Thanh Cong and Tran Ngoc Quang on robbery charges. They and some people faked credit cards to withdraw money.
July 17 2006 Inspectors receiving cash gifts to be purged The Vietnamese Government Inspectorate said Saturday, July 15, 2006 it would dismiss officials who have accepted gifts of VND500,000 (US$31.2) or more from petrol agencies under investigation, Sai Gon Giai Phong reported. Amid arrests on bribery and embezzlement allegations, including the pending suspension of ministerial inspectorate deputy head Tran Quoc Truong, several inspectors have admitted to receiving gifts of at least VND500,000 (US$31.
July 17 2006 Vietnam former national wrestler charged with theft A former wrestler from the Vietnamese national team was arrested Thursday July 13, 2006 in northern Bac Ninh province for leading a ring to steal 20 motorbikes, jewelry and mobile phones, newswire VnExpress reported Friday.
July 17 2006 Brief News - July 17 The Ministry of Public Security has appointed Major-General Pham Quy Ngo head of the ministry’s investigation bureau, replacing Major-General Cao Ngoc Oanh who is allegedly involved in the PMU 18 corruption scandal. (Tuoi Tre)HCMC’s District 5 police last week arrested Vo Ngoc Quang, 34, allegedly involved in a drug trafficking ring. They detained a gun with seven bullets, a pack of heroin,. 71 ecstasy pills, VND13 million and more than US$2,000.
July 14 2006 Clues point towards possible Vietnam Airlines smuggling Fifty five unclaimed packages returned from Russia may reveal an elaborate smuggling ring within the national carrier Vietnam Airlines’ Noi Bai Operation Control Center in Hanoi, a local newspaper reported. Dang Ngoc Cuong, Deputy Director of Noi Bai Operation Control Center (OCC) reported to Vietnam Airlines’ General Director July 7 that the VN525/30JUN flight to Russia left fifty five unclaimed packages at its destination, which were later returned to Hanoi.
July 14 2006 Vietnam PM wants to get to the bottom of postal scandal The prime minister of Vietnam wants to expedite the probe into the postal scandal involving 37 post offices across Vietnam and the misappropriation of over VND40 billion (US$2.5 million) in procurement.
July 14 2006 Brief News - July 14 1. HCMC Police on Wednesday prosecuted Tran Tan Duc, chief accountant of the Saigon Post and Telecommunications Service Corporation, for lacking of responsibility causing serious consequence. (Thanh Nien)2. The Prime Minister on Wednesday instructed relevant agencies to quickly investigate the case of fraud committed by Nguyen Duc Chi and also punish officials involved.