Arresting an internationally wanted fugitive.

On January 22nd, the Criminal Police Department of the Ministry of Public Security announced that, immediately after launching the peak period of crime suppression during the Lunar New Year of the Tiger 2022, the Fugitive Apprehension and Search Unit arrested 27 wanted individuals (including 6 particularly dangerous wanted individuals; 5 individuals with foreign connections).

Checking information about wanted suspect Park Seongho (wearing a black shirt).

Colonel Tran Ngoc Cuong, Head of the Fugitive Apprehension and Search Department, stated that the process of arresting foreign fugitives is very arduous and difficult due to the scarcity and vagueness of information about the suspects. Some individuals enter Vietnam through unofficial channels, blending in with workers in companies. For example, the arrest of Park Seongho (born in 2005), a South Korean national, who was subject to an international arrest warrant issued by the Interpol General Secretariat in July 2021 for the crime of "producing and distributing child sexual exploitation materials."

Park Seongho is accused of using his Facebook account to befriend and chat with numerous girls under 16 in South Korea between March and April 2021. Once he gained their trust, he requested that the victims send "pornographic" images and videos via message. He then edited these images into complete videos and distributed them to various "dark" websites to earn illicit money. Many families filed complaints after seeing their daughters' images disseminated, but South Korean police discovered the suspect was not present in their local area.

In November 2021, based on information from the Department of Foreign Affairs (Ministry of Public Security), the leaders of the Criminal Police Department requested the Fugitive Apprehension Unit to track down and arrest Park Seongho, who was hiding in Vietnam. The unit's task force quickly verified the information; however, the arrest warrant, which included the suspect's name, age, permanent address, alleged crimes, and a black-and-white, unclear photograph, left the investigators with "no leads."

Nearly a month later, through investigative measures, the task force discovered that Park Seongho's parents were in one of the provinces of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, or Dong Nai. Immediately, a task force was dispatched to the South to investigate and sift through information, and they identified the suspect's parents as living in an apartment in Tan Phong Ward, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City. However, Park Seongho was not found living with his parents.

At this time, the task force of the Department had also sketched a profile of Park Seongho, describing him as approximately 1.75 meters tall, with a tattoo on his arm, blonde hair, single eyelids, a nomadic lifestyle, and not fluent in Vietnamese. He entered Vietnam with his parents in 2017. Knowing he was wanted internationally, he did not live in one place but moved constantly between southern provinces to erase his tracks.

Having determined that he would be visiting his parents at a certain time, the task force monitored all movements in the area where Park Seongho's parents lived. On December 19, 2021, upon receiving information that Park Seongho had returned home, the task force, led by Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Thanh Binh and Captain Nguyen Phuoc Thanh of the Fugitive Apprehension and Search Unit, launched a third operation to arrest the suspect.

At approximately 6 PM that same day, a task force comprising officers from the Fugitive Apprehension and Search Unit, in coordination with the Foreign Affairs Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Police, spotted a young man wearing a mask, whose appearance matched the wanted suspect's profile, getting out of a taxi, walking into the lobby of an apartment building, and pressing the elevator button for the floor where his parents lived. After a quick consultation, the task force confirmed that this was indeed the wanted suspect, Park Seongho. As soon as he exited the elevator, the detectives immediately approached him for an administrative check. Upon presenting his passport, the task force read out the arrest warrant.

On December 21st, at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Vietnamese police handed over Park Seongho to South Korean police.