Using a car to travel from Hanoi to Nghe An to steal buffaloes.
(Baonghean.vn) -On June 27, the Quỳnh Lưu District People's Court held a first-instance trial to hear the case against four defendants, Lành, Chiến, Ngọc, and Hoàng, for the crime of "theft of property".
According to the indictment of the People's Procuratorate of Quynh Luu District.,At approximately 11:00 AM on September 30, 2012: Nguyen Van Lanh (born 1965), Nguyen Van Chien (born 1989), and Tran Van Thanh (born 1988), all residing in Huong Gia village, Phu Cuong commune, Soc Son district (Hanoi), traveled in a truck with a covered cargo bed bearing license plate 29V - 5033 to Nghe An province.
Upon arriving in Cau Giat town (Quynh Luu district), they contacted Nguyen Van Huong (born in 1987) and Nguyen Van Hoang (born in 1988), residing in Hamlet 11, Quynh Giang commune (Quynh Luu district), to pick them up and take them to Ho Quang Ngoc's house (born in 1985, residing in Block 4, Cau Giat town) for food and rest.
At 9 PM that same night, Ngoc used a motorbike to take Huong to look for "prey". When Ngoc and Huong returned and reported that they had found "goods", Thanh drove a car carrying Lanh and Huong while Ngoc rode a motorbike carrying Chien to the railway tracks near the rice fields of Quynh Lam commune.
Here, Ngoc and Chien walked about 700m to Mr. Nguyen Van Thuan's buffalo shed (Hamlet 22), broke the lock, cut the ropes around the noses of the two buffaloes, and together with their accomplices, loaded them onto a sealed truck and drove to Tinh Gia district (Thanh Hoa).
At around 7 a.m. on October 1, 2012, they took the buffalo to Mr. Mai Tien Hoi's house (Minh Hai commune, Tinh Gia district) to leave it there, then returned to Ngoc's house to sleep.
At approximately 2 PM that same day, Ngoc used a motorbike to take Chien to Ngoc Son commune to continue reconnaissance. At midnight, Hoang drove a car carrying Lanh and Huong, while Ngoc took Chien on a motorbike to the intersection of the inter-village road near the dam in Ngoc Son commune to "lie in wait".
Here, Huong, Ngoc, and Chien brought bolt cutters to the cattle shed of Mr. Tran Nguyen Thuong's family (Team 7, Ngoc Son) and caught a cow, loaded it onto a car, then drove to another area, continued to Mr. Mai Van Thuong's house (in Team 8), cut the lock, herded another buffalo belonging to Mr. Thuong, and then drove to Thanh Hoa.
On the morning of October 2nd, 2012, they went to Mr. Hoi's house (where they had previously left the buffaloes), took back two buffaloes, gave him 300,000 dong, and then fled to Hanoi. In Hanoi, they took four buffaloes and cows to Co Dien market on the Red River dike and sold them for 47 million dong (while their actual value was around 102 million dong) and spent a lavish night partying in Hanoi.
Realizing how easy it was to make money, they discussed splitting up to carry out further heists, then regrouping in one place. Back in Nghe An, Ngoc went to Ha Tinh and colluded with another group, successfully stealing up to 16 buffaloes before being caught by the police.
Nguyen Van Lanh, along with other accomplices, stole three more buffaloes in Son Duong district (Tuyen Quang province) and was also arrested. Huong and Thanh, however, went up to the mountainous areas of Quy Chau (Nghe An province) to continue their "crime," and when they heard that their accomplices had been arrested, they both fled.
As for Nguyen Van Lanh, despite living in Hanoi, he only completed the first grade before leading a dissolute life and working odd jobs. Even after having a wife and three children, he still considered theft his profession. On June 22, 1995, he was sentenced to three months in prison by the Soc Son District People's Court (Hanoi) for "theft of property." On January 13, 1998, he was again sentenced to four years in prison by the Supreme People's Court for the same crime. After his release, he teamed up with Huong and Chien to form a group, expanding his network and seeking "colleagues" outside the province to "fish further afield."
After successfully committing two robberies in Quynh Luu (Nghe An province), he moved to the mountainous region of Tuyen Quang province to continue his criminal activities and was arrested. On March 11, 2013, he was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison by the Son Duong District People's Court. The Quynh Luu District Police had to extract and "borrow" him from the provincial prison to attend this trial (June 27, 2013).
The defendants before the court.
Meanwhile, Ngoc didn't have a "legendary" record like Lanh, but no one could match the speed of his thefts. In just 3 months in Ha Tinh province, Ngoc successfully stole 16 cows and was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Nghi Xuan District People's Court. The Quynh Luu District police even had to "borrow" him to attend the trial.
As for Tran Van Thanh, after a period of hiding, knowing he could not escape the law, he turned himself in.
After a day of trial, the panel of judges sentenced Ho Quang Ngoc to 36 months in prison plus 12 years from a previous sentence. Nguyen Van Lanh received 4 years in prison plus 1 year and 6 months from a previous sentence. Nguyen Van Chien received 36 months and Nguyen Van Hoang received 15 months in prison.
Nguyen Phe
