Arresting a group of young men protecting the Tet flower market in Vinh city

The Investigation Police Agency of Vinh City (Nghe An) has just issued a decision to prosecute a case and prosecute a group of suspects in Vinh City for the act of "Extortion of property" from flower vendors during Tet.

Accordingly, around the time of the Lunar New Year 2020, on Le Ninh Street in Quan Bau Ward (Vinh City), located right next to Vinh Railway Station Market, is the city's largest flower market during the Lunar New Year. Many traders from other provinces and cities bring flowers to wholesale and retail.

Taking advantage of the above location, a group of 4-5 subjects organized to collect protection money from flower vendors from the southern provinces, amounting to 3-5 million VND/vehicle. If the vendors did not cooperate, they would not allow them to sell flowers there, and even threatened and damaged the vehicles and goods.

Fearing, the traders had to pay them as soon as the Tet flower carts arrived at the yard.

The arrested subjects. Photo: Quynh Trang

Faced with that situation, Vinh City Police established a special project to fight and destroy in order to restore security and order in the area. Through the investigation process, the Special Project Team established a group of subjects who committed acts of protection and extortion of property, including: Truong Thanh Quang (born in 1984), a subject with a previous conviction for "Illegal possession of narcotics" and "Murder"; Vuong Linh Kha (born in 1981), a subject with a previous conviction for "Gambling" and "Extortion of property"; Nguyen Duc Dung (born in 1991), a subject with a previous conviction for "Gambling"; Hoang Ha (born in 1989). The subjects all reside in Vinh City (Nghe An).

On January 23, seeing the opportunity was ripe, the Task Force decided to crack the case. Immediately, task forces were deployed simultaneously, conducting searches and urgently detaining the subjects: Vuong Linh Kha, Nguyen Duc Dung and Hoang Ha for the act of "Extortion of property".

At the investigation agency, faced with documentary evidence and sharp arguments from the investigators, the suspects had to bow their heads and admit their guilt.

Truong Thanh Quang fled as soon as he discovered his accomplices had been arrested. On February 18, the Special Task Force arrested him while he was hiding in Hung Tay Commune, Hung Nguyen District (Nghe An).

The initial investigation determined that the group had collected money from 9 bus companies, amounting to about 20 million VND, of which most of the bus companies had only paid half of the money in advance because they had not sold the flowers. If they had not been arrested, the group would have collected all of the money from the bus companies, an estimated amount of about 80 million VND. After that, they would have gathered to divide the money into different levels.

Currently, the Vinh City Police Department has issued a decision to prosecute the case and prosecute the above group of subjects for the act of "Extortion of property".