Nghe An police 'go abroad' to seek international attention

(Baonghean.vn)- Soldiers on duty to hunt down criminals often leave before dawn and return home when their wives and children are fast asleep. To track down fugitives, they do not have a single day off or a full day off. Among thousands of trips from North to South, trips to Laos or Cambodia to track down “wanted” criminals are always memorable.

1.Although they received the call early in the morning, they waited until dusk for the special task force led by Colonel Tran Van Minh, Head of PC52 of Nghe An Police, to return to headquarters, bringing with them two fugitives who had been on the run for 19 years in Laos. This was not the first time that detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department had gone abroad to capture international fugitives, but the capture of these two fugitives had its own characteristics, forcing them to be very careful.

Because Luong Pho An (born in 1963) and Luong Bun Thi (born in 1975), both residing in Keo Con village, Keng Du commune, Ky Son district, are both important links in the transnational drug trafficking and transportation ring from Laos to Vietnam, led by "boss" Xeo Ba La.

The wanted force extradited two subjects Luong Pho An and Luong Bun Thi from Laos to Vietnam to face trial.

After a period of rampage in the border area, on May 1, 1997, while transporting 3kg of opium across the border, this group was discovered by the anti-drug force of the Nghe An Border Guard. Xeo Ba La was arrested, while An and Bun quickly escaped.

After learning that they were wanted by the police, Luong Pho An and Luong Bun Thi decided to flee to Laos to live. Here, they changed their names and chose a remote area, more than 200 kilometers away from the district center by forest road, to avoid detection. Once their lives were stable, they found a way to bring their wives and children over and cut off all ties with their relatives in Vietnam. To support each other, An and Thi even built houses only about 70 meters apart, became neighbors with the intention of escaping together if there was any trouble.

On the part of the authorities, since these subjects “disappeared” for many years, the stack of files has been constantly being looked over by detectives. If the subjects are not brought to justice for a day, the wanted soldiers will not be satisfied. In early April 2016, detectives of PC52 received information that the two subjects had appeared in Co Du village, Hoi Long commune, Noong Het district, Xieng Khouang province (Laos), so they immediately established a project to deploy forces to surround and capture them.

The task force departed from Nghe An on May 23 and arrived at Noong Het a day later. Because Co Du village is far from the center and there are usually very few people passing by, in order to enter without arousing suspicion, the wanted soldiers had to pretend to be people surveying the construction site, choosing abandoned shacks to stay in.

The roads were difficult to travel, so the vehicles carrying necessities and food had to be abandoned. During the four days of staying in the middle of the forest, there were times when the scouts had to provide their own food, drinking spring water and eating instant noodles and dry food they brought with them. Some scouts didn't even have time to shower.

After many days of monitoring and understanding the lifestyle of the two subjects, on the morning of May 27, the task force decided to "take the bait". When they saw Luong Pho An come to Luong Bun Thi's house for breakfast, the detectives suddenly raided, leaving the subjects unable to react. After a minute of pretending not to know Vietnamese and claiming there was a mistake, but faced with undeniable evidence, the two subjects agreed to be handcuffed and returned to Vietnam to face trial after 19 years of hiding from the wanted warrant.

2.Another unforgettable “memory” when going abroad to arrest wanted criminals was the journey to find “female monster” Nguyen Thi Thao (born in 1974), residing in Hung Binh ward, Vinh city.

Carrying on her back 4 previous convictions for human trafficking and illegal drug trafficking, with a total sentence of 32 years in prison, and being infected with HIV, but taking advantage of the lenient policy allowing her to be released on bail while raising a young child, this female monster fled abroad, had plastic surgery, changed her appearance and hid under the guise of a businesswoman.

"Monster" Nguyen Thi Thao was arrested after having cosmetic surgery, changing her name and hiding as a businesswoman in Laos.

Lieutenant Colonel Vu Quoc Bao, Team Leader of Team 3, PC52 Department of Nghe An Police, said: In June 2014, from a source of information discovering Nguyen Thi Thao cooking for a logging company in Attapeu province (Laos), the unit established a special project to arrest her, but when the working group went on a pilgrimage to the Land of a Million Elephants, Thao quickly escaped.

Not giving up, after more than 4 months of eating and sleeping in foreign lands, in October 2014, the detective discovered that Thao was the owner of a Bun Hue shop in Pakse city, Cham Pa Xac province, a location in Southern Laos, located next to the Mekong River, bordering Cambodia and Thailand.

The difficulty now was that Thao had undergone plastic surgery and changed her appearance. However, with sharp professional measures, the detectives forced this female monster to submit and handcuff her back to her hometown to be sentenced.

3.Talking about the times they went abroad to arrest wanted criminals, many generations of officers and soldiers of the Criminal Investigation Department of Nghe An Police still cannot forget the project 604B to arrest wanted criminal Tran Van Hoi (born in 1972), from Hung Xa commune, Hung Nguyen district, hiding in Bolikhamxay province of Laos.

This is an especially dangerous wanted subject, the leader of a large-scale drug trafficking ring from Laos to Vietnam. Tran Van Hoi and his accomplices successfully traded 934 Heroin cakes, illegally earning tens of billions of dong.

In 2002, Hoi was issued a nationwide arrest warrant. He quickly fled to Laos, changed his name and continued to organize activities, forming a drug trafficking network from abroad to Vietnam on an extremely large scale. In just a short time, this subject hired foreigners to successfully transport many drug shipments to Vietnam with hundreds of heroin cakes and tens of thousands of synthetic drug pills.

With the approval of the Ministry of Public Security, on March 16, 2005, a special task force of 10 comrades went to Laos to arrest Tran Van Hoi. After more than half a month of "wandering" in the Land of a Million Elephants, the scouts used all relationships and measures to find Hoi's whereabouts, but he was a very cunning person, a cunning fox with a lot of experience in hiding, so he changed his place of residence constantly.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duc Hai, Deputy Director of Nghe An Police congratulated the achievements of Department PC52.

Normally, Hoi only stayed in each place for a few days, so there were many places where he had just left when the scouts arrived. Until the source of information was obtained, Tran Van Hoi was hiding in a location in Vientiane city with other accomplices, with both "goods" and hot weapons on him.

Realizing that the opportunity had come, the task force secretly approached and attacked unexpectedly, leaving the subject unable to react. He obediently put his hands in handcuffs and was taken to court.

Most recently, Department PC52 (Nghe An Police) successfully deployed Project 711T, arresting wanted subject Le Van Linh, aka Linh "tiger", residing in Vinh City, an especially dangerous international wanted subject, leader of a criminal gang specializing in hired stabbings, illegal drug trafficking, and wanted in Cambodia./.

Ha Thu