Dog stole a stone statue of Buddha Maitreya and brought it home to worship.

A thief named Hoan confessed that he was very fond of "playing" with spiritual items, so when he saw a stone statue of Maitreya Buddha on the sidewalk, Hoan planned to steal it.

On July 4, the Investigation Police Agency of Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi announced that it had initiated a case, prosecuted the accused and issued a 3-month detention order for Tran Thoat Hoan, 36 years old, residing in Cong Hoa Commune, Nam Sach, Hai Duong, currently renting a room in Tay Mo Ward, Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi to investigate and clarify the act of property theft.

Previously, on April 17, Mr. Bui Quang Minh, residing in Dinh Cong ward, Hoang Mai district, Hanoi, went to Nam Tu Liem district police to report that the white monolithic Maitreya Buddha statue, measuring 1.8x1.4x1.2 meters and worth more than 120 million VND that he hired someone to look after, had disappeared. The statue was placed on the sidewalk in front of house number 28, Mieu Dam street, Me Tri ward, Nam Tu Liem district, waiting to be completed to be offered to a local pagoda.

Subject Tran Thoat Hoan and the statue of Buddha Maitreya.

After receiving the report, the Nam Tu Liem District Police Department urgently organized to take statements from witnesses, determining that a man hired a crane to transport the statue to an unknown location around mid-February 2017. By the time Mr. Minh discovered it, the statue had been missing for 2 months.

Therefore, the traces left behind were almost very faint, making it difficult for the investigation. During the investigation, the police identified the thief of the Maitreya Buddha statue as Tran Thoat Hoan.

Knowing that he was being sought by the police, on June 21, Hoan turned himself in at the Nam Tu Liem District Police Department. Searching Hoan's house, the police seized the aforementioned Maitreya Buddha statue and two brown-painted stone lion statues, about 1 meter high, each weighing about 300 kg; two brown-painted stone fountains, about 1.8 meters high; a cylindrical ceramic vase, about 1.9 meters high, about 50 cm in diameter. All of these items were stolen by Hoan in the Cau Giay and Nam Tu Liem districts.

At the police station, Hoan admitted to stealing the Maitreya Buddha statue on the sidewalk of Mieu Dam Street in mid-February 2017, and also confessed to committing 3 other thefts. In December 2016, he stole it from behind the Garden Plaza building on Tran Duy Hung Street, Cau Giay; in January 2017, on the sidewalk near the Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion; and in May 2017, in Me Tri Ward, Nam Tu Liem District.

Regarding the theft of the Maitreya Buddha statue, Hoan confessed that he was very fond of "playing" with spiritual items. In early February 2017, while going to work many times through Mieu Dam Street, Me Tri, Nam Tu Liem, Hoan saw a Maitreya Buddha statue on the sidewalk in front of house number 28, Mieu Dam Street, Me Tri, Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi, so he had the intention of stealing this statue.

As a truck driver, Hoan has many friends who work as crane drivers, so on the afternoon of February 10, Hoan asked a friend to come and lift the statue for him.

At around 3am, Hoan's friend arrived. Seeing that no one was there, Hoan burned votive paper in front of the statue so that people passing by would not suspect Hoan as the owner of the statue. Therefore, when Mr. Pham Van Sang, the security guard at the parking lot in the Dam Temple area, saw Hoan's action of sending someone to pick up the statue, he lied and said he was picking up the statue for his boss?! Hoan had checked the date and time so he had to pick up the statue at this time and had to carry a baby because the statue had a child on it.

Sang believed it was real so he didn't ask any more questions. Hoan also asked Sang to help lift the statue and then generously gave Sang 100,000 VND. However, because the statue was too big, the crane couldn't lift it. Hoan continued to call another truck and lifted the statue to his house in Co Phap village, Cong Hoa commune, Nam Sach district, Hai Duong to hide the statue.

All the stolen items in the above statue thefts were brought home by Hoan to worship.

According to CAND