Foreign suspect arrested for electrocuting and robbing GrabBike driver

Two young men, an American and an Indian, were accused of using an electric baton to shock a GrabBike driver in order to steal his motorbike and then leave it at a hotel.

On the night of March 24, the Southern Special Criminal Police Team (PC45) of Ho Chi Minh City Police urgently arrested two suspects, Ravi Barkash (27 years old, Indian nationality) and Moon Atfri (31 years old, American nationality, both residing in Nha Be district) in the case of a GrabBike driver being electrocuted and having his vehicle stolen on March 21.

The police will coordinate with the diplomatic agencies of these two suspects to clarify the act of robbery.

Suspect Moon Atfri, American nationality. Photo: Provided by police.

According to initial investigation, in the early morning of four days ago, a 31-year-old GrabBike driver (from Gia Lai) received a notification that a customer had booked a car through the system. He immediately drove to a restaurant on Nguyen Huu Tho Street (Hamlet 3, Phuoc Kien Commune, Nha Be District) to pick up the customer.

When arriving at the pick-up location, the driver called the number where the car was booked, and two young foreigners appeared. Suddenly, one of them pulled out an electric baton and shocked the driver. The victim was so frightened that he abandoned the car and ran into a nearby grassy area, then fainted. Later, the victim woke up and went to report to the police.

Suspect Ravi Barkash, Indian nationality. Photo: Provided by police.

Upon receiving the information, the Southern Special Criminal Police Team began investigating. By noon on March 21, detectives had narrowed down the area to two suspects, Ravi Barkash and Moon Atfri, who were staying at two different hotels on Le Van Luong Street (Phuoc Kien Commune, Nha Be District).

Because the suspect was a foreigner, the police were cautious in collecting evidence and consolidating their records. On the night of March 24, detectives swooped in and urgently arrested Ravi Barkash and Moon Atfri.

Checking the residence of the two suspects, the police confiscated the motorbike that the GrabBike driver had stolen (but the motorbike had a different license plate), along with the electric baton that was the murder weapon.

Initially, the two suspects admitted their actions. Both entered Vietnam about 6 months ago and met each other while hanging out in the Western Quarter (District 1).

Both suspects were unemployed during their long-term stay in Saigon and therefore lacked money to spend. The two young men planned to rob and ordered electric batons online to use as weapons. After robbing the GrabBike driver’s motorbike, the two suspects changed the license plate but were arrested before finding a place to sell the stolen goods.

According to Zing.vn