Surrounded by creditors, former police officer stole his boss's gun and sold it for 20 million VND.
Cuong confessed that due to wasteful spending, business failures, and debt to many people up to 200 million VND, he was surrounded by creditors. Cuong stole a gun to sell for money.
On September 20, the People's Court of Cai Rang District, Can Tho City held a first-instance trial and sentenced defendant Nguyen Mau Quoc Cuong (24 years old; former police officer of Tan Phu Ward, Cai Rang District) to 3 years in prison for "Illegal trading and appropriation of military weapons".
 |
| Defendant Nguyen Mau Quoc Cuong (red shirt) at the trial. Photo: VNA |
The two defendants Ho Nhat An Khuong (25 years old, residing in Ben Tre province) received 1 year and 6 months in prison and Le Dien Khac Huy (33 years old, residing in Tien Giang province) received 1 year in prison, both for the crime of "Illegal trading of military weapons".
According to the indictment, at about 1:00 a.m. on December 22, 2018, while on duty at the office, taking advantage of the absence of anyone, Cuong sneaked into the room of Mr. Pham Van Du - Deputy Chief of Tan Phu Ward Police, opened the cabinet, took a CZ83 military gun number 208629 and a magazine containing 5 bullets, then hid it in his personal cabinet.
At 9:00 a.m. the same day, Cuong went online to find someone to sell the gun. Khuong then agreed to buy it and the two agreed on a price of 20 million VND, to be delivered at the Ben Tre bus station. At 5:00 p.m. on December 22, 2018, after work, Cuong took a bus to Ben Tre to meet Khuong to hand over the gun. Khuong accepted the gun but only paid Cuong 14 million VND and a dagger, the rest he owed.
After buying the gun from Cuong, Khuong posted it on Zalo to resell. An account named "Hoa Anh Tuc" agreed to buy it for 65 million VND, but both parties had not agreed on the delivery method. Khuong asked Le Dien Khac Huy to act as an intermediary to sell the gun. If the sale was successful, Khuong would pay Huy 5 million VND, and Huy accepted. The buyer transferred 65 million VND to Huy's account, and Huy sent the gun to the buyer.
On March 9, Phuong Nam Ward Police (Uong Bi City, Quang Ninh Province) discovered the above gun while on patrol, with a magazine but no bullets inside. The gun was then handed over to the Investigation Security Agency of Can Tho City Police for further investigation.
At court, the defendants all admitted to their crimes. Defendant Cuong confessed that due to wasteful spending, business failures, and debts to many people amounting to 200 million VND, he was surrounded by creditors. Initially, the defendant only intended to go to the office of the Deputy Chief of Police of Tan Phu Ward to get money and valuable assets to sell, but he did not have any, so he came up with the idea of stealing a gun.
The jury found the defendants’ actions to be dangerous to society. Cuong was a police officer and knew the rules, but he deliberately stole the gun and sold it because of debt pressure.
