Dismantling the inter-provincial alliance of stealing and selling fake phones
Having met each other at a coffee shop, Dinh Quoc Huy and Nguyen Van Hung exchanged phone numbers. Then, Nguyen Van Hung suggested to Huy, “When you have a phone, sell it to me.” From here, an alliance was formed between a professional, inter-provincial network of property theft and consumption of stolen property.
More than 300 mobile phones were seized as evidence.
That is the "huge" phone number of evidence that the Criminal Police Department of Ha Nam Province Police has seized to serve the investigation of a theft and pickpocketing ring.consumption of stolen propertywere deployed during the deployment of the plan to ensure security and order for the procession, enshrinement, and worship of Buddha's relics and the 2025 Buddha's Birthday at Tam Chuc Tourist Area, Ha Nam Province from May 17 to May 20. In addition, the Investigation Agency also seized 2 cars including: 1 Ford Everest and 1 Hyundai Santafe used by the subjects as means of committing the crime along with many valuable assets.
Previously, on May 18, the Criminal Police Department of Ha Nam Province Police arrested a group of 4 people who specialized in staging scenes of jostling and pushing to steal and pickpocket people and tourists while people were coming to worship Buddha's relics and attend the 2025 Buddha's Birthday Festival at Tam Chuc Pagoda.
Expanding the investigation, up to now, the Investigation Police Agency of Ha Nam Province has detained 7 subjects to investigate 2 acts of property theft and consumption of property obtained by others through crime. The detained subjects include: Dinh Quoc Huy (born in 1982), residing in village 4, Phu Van commune, Phu Ly city, Ha Nam province; Nguyen Thi Huong (born in 1976), residing in Vi Luong residential area, Nam Phong ward, Nam Dinh city, Nam Dinh province; Tran Thi Kim Oanh (born in 1973), residing in My Xa ward, Nam Dinh city, Nam Dinh province; Nguyen Thi Be (born in 1968), residing at 209B B2B Trai Gang, Thanh Nhan ward, Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi city; San Thieu Xuan (born in 1960), residing at house number 30, lane 68 Doan Thi Diem, Quoc Tu Giam ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi city; Nguyen Van Hung (born in 1985), residing in Group 11, Quang Trung Ward, Thai Nguyen City, Thai Nguyen Province and Nguyen Duy Phuong (born in 2002), residing in Village 9, Thai Binh Commune, Yen Son District, Tuyen Quang Province. This is a professional gang of thieves and consumers of stolen property. Most of the subjects have many criminal records such as: Nguyen Thi Huong has up to 5 criminal records for property theft, just released from prison in September 2024; Tran Thi Kim Oanh has 3 criminal records, Nguyen Thi Be also has 2 criminal records...
Lieutenant Colonel Le Duc Tung, Head of the Criminal Police Department of Ha Nam Province Police, said that so far, the Investigation Agency has clarified that the subjects in the gang discussed, divided tasks and colluded very closely with each other from the stage of theft to hiding, dispersing and consuming stolen property. During the investigation, the subjects gave evasive statements, causing difficulties for the investigation. However, with experience and applying many professional measures, persistently fighting with the subjects, the investigators of the Criminal Police Department of Ha Nam Province Police have clarified the role of each subject, proving the sophisticated tricks and professionalism of this criminal ring.
In which, the subjects had a very specific agreement and discussion on the division of tasks. They discussed and agreed to assign tasks to Nguyen Thi Huong, Nguyen Thi Be, and San Thieu Xuan to squeeze into the crowd, approach people going to the pagoda, stage a scene of pushing and shoving, then take advantage of the loopholes to pickpocket, steal phones and property, then pass it on to Tran Thi Kim Oanh who followed behind. Oanh then passed it on to Dinh Quoc Huy who sat at a fixed position in the Tam Chuc pagoda area to hide the stolen phone numbers and property. After that, Huy collected all the stolen phones to sell to the consumer group Nguyen Van Hung and Nguyen Duy Phuong, parked his car near the Tam Chuc pagoda area to bring it back to Thai Nguyen to sell.
Order to buy fake phone
The breakthrough point of the project is that in addition to capturing the subjects in the gang of professional phone thieves and pickpockets, who specialize in taking advantage of festivals and events with large crowds to operate, the Investigation Police Agency of Ha Nam Province Police has fought and clarified the close collusion between this gang of professional thieves and the group of subjects who consume stolen property. They had a connection and agreement to "order" to buy stolen goods from the beginning.
During the recent procession, enshrinement, and worship of Buddha's relics and the 2025 Buddha's Birthday at Tam Chuc Tourist Area, Ha Nam Province, before being arrested, the two consumers, Nguyen Van Hung and Nguyen Duy Phuong, drove a different car every day from Thai Nguyen to Ha Nam, parked near Tam Chuc Pagoda to wait for Huy to bring the phones of the group of thieves "stolen" from people and tourists visiting Tam Chuc Pagoda to sell back to Hung's group to bring back to Thai Nguyen for consumption. The clue was the connection between Dinh Quoc Huy and Nguyen Van Hung.
Dinh Quoc Huy said he met Nguyen Van Hung while sitting at a coffee shop. Huy and Hung exchanged phone numbers, Hung also suggested and asked Huy, "When you have a phone, sell it to me."
After purchasing the stolen phones from the group of thieves handed over by Huy, Hung and Phuong would turn off the phones, remove the SIM cards, then find a way to contact the victims and ask for a ransom for the phones. If the victims did not redeem the phones, the subjects would use jailbreaking software to re-run the data into blank phones to sell on the market. If they could not jailbreak the phones, the subjects would "disassemble" the phones, remove the components to replace them for customers who needed to repair or upgrade their phones.
During an urgent search of Hung and Phuong's residence in Thai Nguyen, the police seized a total of 319 mobile phones of various types. The suspects confessed to stealing the phones at festivals and football stadiums in the northern provinces and cities. On May 17 and 18 alone, the group stole 51 mobile phones of various types, money and other valuable assets from people and Buddhists who came to worship Buddha's relics at Tam Chuc Pagoda tourist area. Currently, the Ha Nam Provincial Police Department is continuing to expand and dismantle the entire network and related subjects to strictly handle them before the law.
