Flying and shaking cave operating during the epidemic season
The couple Nguyen Trong Trinh and Pham Thi Cuong reserved 4 VIP rooms on the basement floor of the karaoke bar to serve regular customers who used drugs after 10 p.m.
On June 10, Trinh, 52 years old, Pham Thi Cuong, 49 years old, along with two employees Nguyen Van Thuan and Nguyen Tien Thanh were detained by Phu Tho Provincial Police to clarify the act of harboringillegal drug use.
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| The group of drug users were arrested. Photo: Provided by the police. |
According to the police, in 2019, Trinh and Cuong opened the Trinh Cuong karaoke bar in Dan Quyen commune, Tam Nong district. The couple then hired two cousins, Thanh and Thuan, to manage the bar.
In April, when the People's Committee of Phu Tho province decided to stop karaoke activities to prevent and fight Covid-19, Trinh and his wife still opened a "black" bar for customers to rent rooms to use drugs. Trinh used rooms on the ground floor (below the first floor) to operate discreetly. They were also ready to send "call girls" to serve customers if they needed them.
To avoid detection, Trinh instructed his staff to only accept regular customers and after 10pm. Before and during the time customers played, Trinh and his wife assigned staff to walk around the shop to keep watch and if there was any disturbance, they would stop accepting customers.
Trinh and his wife usually do not appear at the bar, but only manage it through a surveillance camera installed on their phone. Receiving customers and collecting money must be reported to Trinh and approved. Trinh told the staff that if they were discovered, they must turn off all the lights in the "high" room, pour drugs into the bathroom, and herd the staff to the second floor.
At around 1:30 a.m. on June 7, police raided the bar and discovered four VIP rooms filled with men and women high on drugs. Of these, 15 tested positive for drugs.
