A couple who are not legally married are using children to breathe fire and beg for money, earning tens of millions of dong each month.

On October 15th, the Criminal Police Department of Can Tho City Police is investigating a ring that exploited children to spit fire-breathing oil at bars and restaurants to beg for money, earning tens of millions of dong in illicit profits each month.

At approximately 9:00 AM on the same day, the Criminal Police force, in coordination with the Ninh Kieu Ward Police (Can Tho City), conducted an administrative inspection of a house in alley 2, Mau Than Street, and summoned five people for questioning regarding their involvement in a ring that exploited children to breathe fire while holding oil in their mouths at bars and restaurants.

Five people were summoned to the police station for questioning: Nguyen Van Luom (35 years old, residing in Cau Ngang commune, Vinh Long province); Lu Thi Thu Trang (38 years old, residing in Ninh Kieu ward – who lived with Luom as his wife); Lu Quoc Phu (32 years old, Trang's younger brother); and two 15-year-old girls.

In this case, Luom played the leading role and was also a drug user whose file had been created and monitored by the Cau Ngang Commune Police. Phu, on the other hand, was a suspect whose file had been created and taken in by the Ninh Kieu Ward Police.addictionTwo teenage girls (including Trang's daughter) were responsible for transporting the children to the fire-breathing area.

The aforementioned gang exploited four siblings (aged 9-14, residing in Vinh Long) to perform fire-breathing acts.

According to initial investigations, from 8 PM to 1 AM the following morning, Luom hired several individuals to take the children to beg for money by having them spit fire from oil at pubs along the streets of Tan An, Ninh Kieu, Cai Khe, An Binh, and Hung Phu wards.

In this operation, Phu and two 15-year-old girls regularly transported the children to perform fire-breathing acts. Luom assigned someone to supervise, standing at a distance to keep watch while the children performed fire-breathing acts and begged for money from customers.

According to the police, there was no blood relationship between Luom and the children. During the day, Luom had someone take the children to an internet cafe to play games, and in the evening, he would take them to work. Luom confessed that he was raising the children with the intention of having them perform fire-breathing acts to beg for money.

The money the children earned from fire-breathing was collected by Luom and Trang. Depending on the amount of money collected each day, Luom would distribute it to those who transported the children to perform fire-breathing acts, with each person receiving an average of 200,000 VND per night. As for the children, Luom gave them 50,000-100,000 VND each day for spending and playing games.

From the money earned, Luom gives the children's parents 12 million dong each month. The remaining money is kept by Luom and Trang. On average, Luom and his wife illegally profit about 30 million dong per month from the children's fire-breathing acts.