Beware of property theft crimes at the end of the year

Many reckless and daring incidents

At around 2:30 p.m. on December 21, 2023, Mr. NVK (born in 1976), residing in Hamlet 9, Nghi Phu Commune, Vinh City, rode a motorbike to get money from the bank to the booth rented for food business at address 376, Nguyen Trai Street. After stopping his motorbike in front of the booth, Mr. K. went inside to take care of personal matters. A few minutes after coming out, he discovered that the motorbike trunk had been broken into. The entire amount of 1.4 billion VND borrowed from the bank was stolen, along with the phone...

The incident was quickly reported to the police. Currently, Nghi Phu Commune Police are coordinating with the provincial police to verify and investigate the case. It is known that Mr. K and his wife borrowed the above amount of money to send their child abroad. After discovering the large amount of money missing, Mr. K and his wife, Ms. NTX, were in severe shock and had to go to Nghe An General Hospital for emergency treatment.

Previously, at 11:00 a.m. on August 17, 2023, Ms. Vi Thi D (born in 2005), residing in Lien Dong hamlet, Thanh Lien commune, Thanh Chuong district, discovered that the gold stored in the wardrobe at home was missing, including 2 necklaces, 1 pair of earrings, 5 rings, with a total amount of 1 tael of gold, worth about 53 million VND. This was the property given by relatives and friends at Ms. D's wedding.

After the incident was reported, Thanh Lien Commune Police presided over and coordinated with the Criminal Investigation Police Team on criminal, economic and drug crimes (Thanh Chuong District Police) to carry out measures to verify and screen suspects. On August 19, 2023, through the security camera system installed on the roads of Thanh Lien Commune, combined with the use of professional measures, the police force quickly investigated and arrested the subject who caused the theft, Nguyen Van Luan (born in 1990), residing in Thanh My Commune, Thanh Chuong District. All the stolen gold was seized by the police force. According to Thanh Lien Commune Police, Nguyen Van Luan is a drug addict, being treated with Methadone at the Commune Health Center.

Be on guard
Although there are no complete statistics on the number of cases related to property theft since the beginning of the year, the above cases show that the modus operandi of this crime is not new, the subjects often take advantage of loopholes and lack of vigilance of the people to commit crimes.

For example, the recent theft of 1.4 billion VND in Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city. According to initial assessment, the subject had been monitoring, and at the same time taking advantage of loopholes, shortcomings, and lack of vigilance in the management and protection of the owner's property to find the right time to commit the theft. Furthermore, the subject also had a specific survey at the location where the theft was committed, in fact there was no surveillance camera system...

According to the authorities, most of the thieves do not have stable jobs and are lazy. Some are involved in social evils such as lottery, gambling, drinking, etc. Some professional thieves tend to connect and network inside and outside the area; operate on a mobile, inter-provincial basis with increasingly sophisticated and reckless methods and tricks, causing great damage to property and negatively affecting social life.

For example, Tran Van Muoi and Nguyen Quoc Dung, both residing in Nghi Trung commune, Nghi Loc district, are two subjects with many criminal records for many crimes, both addicted to drugs and always carrying weapons while committing dozens of inter-provincial property thefts. The Criminal Police Department and Nghi Loc District Police jointly led the successful investigation and arrested them at the end of September 2023. Initially, the Police Department clarified that from the beginning of July to the beginning of September 2023, the two subjects committed a total of 12 property thefts in the two provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh; appropriating property including: 11 mobile phones; 2 laptops, 14 million VND in cash and many other properties with a total value of hundreds of millions of VND.

Lieutenant Colonel Tran Duc Than - Head of the Criminal Police Department, Provincial Police said: It is forecasted that the crime and law violations from now until the end of the year will continue to be complicated and tend to increase, especially with property theft crimes, with increasingly sophisticated, daring and reckless methods. In order to effectively fight and prevent all types of crimes in general and property theft in particular, the police force, on the basis of thoroughly implementing the peak of attacking and suppressing all types of crimes before, during and after the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin 2024, will synchronously deploy many measures, as well as organize closed patrols in the areas to ensure that people enjoy Spring and celebrate Tet safely.

However, besides that, people also need to raise their vigilance, raise their awareness of self-defense, self-protection of their property, avoid criminals taking advantage of loopholes to commit crimes. When leaving the house, workplace or going to bed, you need to lock the door and regularly check and repair the door system when damaged. Property used must be kept in a safe location, do not leave large amounts of money or gold at home or in the trunk of the car. Install additional security devices at low costs such as sensor lights that automatically turn on when detecting movement, alarm bells that automatically activate when the door is opened, surveillance cameras, etc.; create close relationships with people around and must know the phone number of the commune police force so that when needed, you can get timely support. In addition, actively participate in denouncing all types of crimes, especially property theft crimes. When discovering information about thieves or consuming stolen property, promptly notify the nearest police.