Man arrested for holding homeowner hostage and robbing him of 16 gold bars.
The police have just investigated and arrested Nguyen Viet Duy (born in 1990) and Nguyen Trung Hieu (born in 1996), the two suspects who robbed 16 gold bars from the owner of a guesthouse.
The Ba Dinh District Police Department of the Hanoi City Police announced that they have investigated, clarified, and urgently arrested Nguyen Viet Duy (born in 1990), residing in Tien Duoc commune, Soc Son district, Hanoi, and Nguyen Trung Hieu (born in 1996), residing in Kinh Mon district, Hai Duong province, as the two suspects in the robbery of 16 gold bars from the owner of a guesthouse on Ngoc Ha street, Doi Can ward (Hanoi).
Earlier, on April 20th, Hieu went online and joined a group called "Debt-ridden - Losers - Reckless People" and befriended Duy. After chatting, the two planned their next move.robbery.
Hieu told Duy that he had stayed at a guesthouse on Ngoc Ha Street, where the owner, Ms. T, was elderly and often wore a lot of gold jewelry. Hieu observed that Ms. T managed the guesthouse alone in a deserted alley with no security cameras. Hieu and Duy arranged to meet at the bus station on Ni Street, Trung Gia Commune, Soc Son District, Hanoi, to plan a robbery.
At around 2 PM on April 23rd, Hieu and Duy went to Mrs. T's guesthouse to observe. Seeing that the guesthouse owner still maintained her habit of wearing a lot of gold jewelry, the two pretended to be guests renting rooms and chatted intimately with the owner to distract her. After being directed to a room by Mrs. T, they checked in, waiting for the opportunity to strike.
At around 7:30 PM that same day, after all the other guests had checked out of the guesthouse, Hieu told Duy to go downstairs and invite Mrs. T up to the room, using the excuse of checking a broken water pipe. As soon as Mrs. T entered the room and reached the bathroom area, Duy suddenly used an electric baton to shock her, causing her to fall to the floor.
Ms. T tried to get up and run away, but Duy pulled her back, continued to use the electric baton, then tied her up tightly and gagged her to prevent her from shouting. Hieu then stole all the gold jewelry Ms. T was wearing. He also stole her iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Before leaving, they used bedsheets to tie up Mrs. T's hands and feet to prevent her from shouting for help. They also erased all traces at the crime scene and disposed of the electric baton in the Red River while fleeing across the Nhat Tan Bridge. Afterward, Hieu and Duy divided the gold equally and sold it at gold trading establishments in Tuyen Quang and Soc Son district. The total amount of money the two suspects earned from selling the gold was over 1.4 billion VND.
After struggling to free herself, Ms. T went to the Doi Can Ward Police Station to report the incident. Upon receiving the information and recognizing the reckless and violent nature of this robbery group, the Ba Dinh District Team and the Major Crimes Team (Criminal Police Department) coordinated with the Doi Can Ward Police Station to quickly launch an investigation, verify the facts, and gather evidence.
According to Ms. T's report, the total value of the stolen gold was approximately 1.781 billion VND. Through investigation and tracing, the police identified the two main perpetrators as Nguyen Trung Hieu and Nguyen Viet Duy. Using professional investigative methods, on April 26th and 27th, the investigating agency successfully arrested Duy and Hieu.
Currently, the Hanoi City Police Investigation Agency has initiated a criminal case, issued an emergency detention order and an arrest warrant for the detained individuals, and placed Nguyen Viet Duy and Nguyen Trung Hieu under temporary criminal detention for the crime of robbery.
During further investigation, the two suspects confessed that, prior to committing the crime, Duy and Hieu had attempted to rob a gold shop in Soc Son district but failed due to the large number of people buying and selling jewelry.
