Couple who met abroad stole gold across the country

On July 30, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a trial of defendants Nguyen Trung Thanh (born in 1978), residing in Hung Linh commune (old), now Hung Nguyen Nam commune, Nghe An and Nguyen Van Lam (born in 1980), residing in Quynh Luu commune for the crime of "Theft of property".

Nguyen Trung Thanh and Nguyen Van Lam knew each other since 2008 in Malaysia. After returning to Vietnam, because they did not have stable jobs and wanted to have money to spend, they both came up with the idea of ​​stealing.

From June 2017 to August 2018, Thanh and Lam committed 4 thefts together in Nghi Loc and Yen Thanh (old) districts, Nghe An province.

The first case that these two subjects carried out was at the QD gold shop (in Nghi Phuong commune, old Nghi Loc district). After many times of surveying and researching the operating rules ofgold shop owner, on the morning of June 4, 2017, both approached, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

At noon that same day, observing that there was no one inside, Thanh put on a jacket and a mask and went inside, while Lam stood outside on guard and started his motorbike, waiting. When entering the gold display counter, Thanh stole a tray containing various types of "9999" gold rings and then escaped on his motorbike.

Afterwards, the subjects did not count the stolen gold but took it all to Thanh Hoa and Ninh Binh to sell to many gold shops for 700 million VND.

Using similar methods, the two successfully robbed two other gold shops, taking possession of many properties. In addition, the couple also pretended to buy stamps and stole a money bag from a post office employee, inside of which was 82 million VND.

The investigation agency determined that the total amount of property that the two defendants stole from the victim was 592 taels of gold (the value of gold at the time of the theft was more than 2.1 billion VND) and 82 million VND.

After committing the above thefts, Thanh and Lam went to Laos together to continue stealing gold and were arrested on September 26, 2018. During the investigation, the subjects confessed to having committed 4 thefts in Vietnam. Therefore, the Nghe An Provincial Police Investigation Agency coordinated with Laos to investigate and clarify.

For their crimes in Laos, Nguyen Trung Thanh and Nguyen Van Lam were each sentenced to 5 years in prison.

In early 2025, Thanh completed all of his sentences and was released. After returning to Vietnam, on January 10, 2025, Thanh surrendered to the police.

As for Nguyen Van Lam, he has not yet completed the civil part of the sentence and the fine, so he has not been released by the neighboring country. Therefore, the panel of judges decided to try this defendant in absentia.

At the trial, defendant Thanh admitted to the crime. Thanh confessed that he and Lam had committed robberies targeting gold shops. Thanh pretended to be a gold buyer and waited for the opportunity to steal, while Lam drove a motorbike and waited outside.

After being arrested, defendant Thanh influenced the family to partially compensate the victims for their losses.

Considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel sentenced Nguyen Trung Thanh to 14 years in prison and defendant Nguyen Van Lam to 15 years in prison. Regarding the civil part, the court ordered the two defendants to jointly compensate the victims.