The 21-year escape of a woman with 2 billion in ward money

On March 7, the Criminal Enforcement and Judicial Support Police Department of Nghe An Province Police (PC10) escorted Bui Thi Lien (born in 1974, residing in Do Luong town, Do Luong district, Nghe An) back to prison after 21 years on the run.

Lien has been a fugitive for 22 years after in 1997, he was sentenced to 6 years in prison by the Provincial People's Court for the crime of "Abuse of trust to appropriate property".

Bui Thi Lien and two other subjects were arrested by the authorities. Photo: NH

In the mid-1990s, Bui Thi Lien and her mother Nguyen Thi Sau established a savings and credit association, attracting 7 members. When the amount of money contributed by the members reached more than 2 billion VND, Lien and her mother declared bankruptcy. Unable to collect the money, the members reported Lien and her mother to the police for investigation.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Sau was arrested, but Lien, who was nursing a 9-month-old child at the time, was released on bail to serve the investigation. A short time later, Lien left her child with her husband and fled the area.

In 1997, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a trial and sentenced Nguyen Thi Sau to 8 years in prison for "Abuse of trust to appropriate property". The collected documents and evidence were sufficient to prove Bui Thi Lien's criminal act as an accomplice, and the panel of judges also sentenced Lien in absentia to 6 years in prison.

In 1998, when Lien returned to her hometown, she was arrested by the police. However, at that time, Lien's child was not yet 36 months old, so the execution of the sentence was temporarily suspended. Taking advantage of the lenient policy of the law, Lien divorced, left her child for her husband to raise, and then continued to disappear from the neighborhood.

The police have repeatedly organized a manhunt for Bui Thi Lien to serve her sentence but to no avail. In mid-2002, the Nghe An Provincial Police Department issued a nationwide wanted notice for Bui Thi Lien, but the whereabouts of this female monster remain an unsolved mystery.

After fleeing the area, Lien wandered from North to South, doing all kinds of jobs to make a living. When her mother died in prison, she did not return home for the funeral. Knowing that the authorities were actively searching for her, Lien was very cautious and hardly called home. When necessary, Lien only called using her social media account to avoid leaving any traces.

The verification of information and the pursuit of the subject are still carried out every year, although it is really more difficult than “finding a needle in a haystack” because the subject’s images, address, etc. have been lost. Even in her first husband’s hometown, no one has any information or images of Lien.

“To capture the subject, we must build a portrait of the subject. We went to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to meet with Lien’s previous victims and asked them to provide identification characteristics of Bui Thi Lien,” said Lieutenant Colonel Bui Van Phuong, PC10 Detention and Temporary Detention Team of Nghe An Police.

While the pursuit was at a dead end, the Investigation Committee received information that in the late 90s of the last century, Lien's younger sister had moved to Tan An City (Long An Province) and got married and lived here. In the following years, Lien's younger brother and younger sister also settled here. It is not impossible that Bui Thi Lien is also hiding in Tan An City.

Another valuable piece of information that the detectives gathered was that while on the run, Bui Thi Lien married a man from Yen Thanh (Nghe An) who drifted to the South and had a child with him. After breaking up with this man, Lien sent her child to her father and stepmother to raise. Lien is currently living with another man in Tan An City.

Determined to capture Bui Thi Lien and bring her to justice, the CALA01 project was established. At the end of February 2019, a source said that Lien's sister, who was living in Nhon Thanh Trung commune, Tan An city, had just given birth, so there was a possibility that the subject would come to visit. The detectives were ordered to lie in ambush, but the subject still did not appear.

The investigation team reported Lien’s information and photos to the police in neighboring wards and communes of Tan An City. On March 3, Nhon Thanh Trung Commune Police reported that a woman with the same identifying characteristics as in the photo appeared at Lien’s sister’s house. The woman was immediately detained.

When the detectives arrived, the woman denied that she was Lien and claimed that there had been a mistake. After a struggle, Lien finally bowed her head and admitted that she was the fugitive. During her time on the run, Lien did not make an ID card or register for temporary residence, so no one knew about her.

After being arrested, Bui Thi Lien wished to serve her sentence at Prison No. 6 - Ministry of Public Security (located in Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An) to be close to her daughter.