Arrested 11 loan sharks in Dien Chau

Under the direct direction of the Director of the Provincial Police and the Head of the Provincial Police Investigation Agency, the Dien Chau District Police (Nghe An) have successfully broken up a case, arresting 11 consecutive cases and 11 subjects for the act of“Lending at high interest rates in civil transactions"; seized many related exhibits.

Dien Chau District Police officers inspect the evidence seized in the case. Photo: Hong Ngoc

Previously, through reconnaissance work, the unit determined that from mid-2021 to present, the complicated development of the Covid-19 epidemic in Nghe An province in general and Dien Chau district in particular has had a significant impact on the lives and production and business activities of many people. Grasping the financial needs of the people, the subjects have conducted "hot" loans with interest rates many times higher than those prescribed by law to make illegal profits. Some people have fallen into dire straits and are no longer able to repay their debts. When it is time to pay interest and repay debts but they do not have money to pay, the subjects have come to their residence or called to threaten, destabilizing the security and order situation in the locality.

Faced with the above situation, Dien Chau District Police have established a special project, focused forces to synchronously deploy professional measures, collect documents and related evidence to fight and arrest subjects operating in "black credit".

During the investigation, the Task Force encountered many difficulties because loan sharks often hide behind financial support companies, pawnshops, and loans with very quick procedures and interest rates calculated separately, not recorded in loan contracts.

In addition, some people have limited awareness and are threatened by subjects during the loan process, so they do not report. In addition, the sanctions for the crime of lending at high interest rates are still light, not enough to deter subjects from taking advantage of the situation to commit crimes.

However, with the spirit of resolutely fighting crime, after a period of investigation, determining that the opportunity was ripe, from April 21, 2022 to May 9, 2022, Dien Chau District Police successfully broke the case, arrested 11 cases, 11 subjects for the act of "Lending money at high interest rates in civil transactions"; confiscated 12 mobile phones and many documents and contracts related to the lending of money by the subjects.

11 subjects at the Investigation Police Agency of Dien Chau District Police. Photo: Hong Ngoc

During the investigation, the authorities determined that from mid-2021 to the time of arrest, the 11 subjects had lent money to many people with a total amount of about 30 billion VND, with interest rates from 3,000 VND to 5,000 VND/1,000,000 VND/day (equivalent to 108% to 180%/year); illegally profiting more than 8 billion VND.

Currently, Dien Chau District Police are continuing to expand the investigation.