The hunt for the perpetrator who planted the bomb that exploded the ATM in Nghe An.

They manufactured landmines and planted them to blow up ATMs in order to steal money.

On the afternoon of January 19th, the Board of Directors of the Nghe An Provincial Police Department held an awards ceremony for the 127H Special Task Force for their achievement in arresting two individuals who planted a mine to detonate an ATM in Cua Lo town on December 22nd, 2017. The two suspects are Nguyen Dinh Thanh (born in 1996) and Nguyen Van Hiep (born in 1999), both residing in Quy Hop district.

The suspect, Nguyen Dinh Thanh. Photo: Quynh Trang

Earlier, at approximately 2:00 AM on December 22nd, an explosion occurred at an ATM of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of Vietnam branch in Cua Lo town. Upon receiving the report, the provincial police leadership dispatched specialized units including PA92, PC45, PC54, along with the Cua Lo town police, to investigate and examine the scene.

On December 29, 2017, the Provincial Police established Special Case 127H to focus on investigating and clarifying the case. On January 10, the Criminal Investigation Agency of Cua Lo Town Police issued a decision to initiate criminal proceedings for the crime of "Destruction of Property".

Reporting on the results of the special investigation, the head of PA92 stated that, after being assigned by the special investigation team, PA92 developed a plan to combat the case, and simultaneously assigned experienced investigators to participate, implementing a comprehensive set of professional measures, thereby identifying several sources of information and clues related to the case.

On January 17th, the Nghia Dan District Police arrested and transferred two suspects, Nguyen Dinh Thanh (born in 1996, residing in Chau Quang commune, Quy Hop district) and Nguyen Van Hiep (born in 1999, residing in Chau Thai commune, Quy Hop district), to the PA92 department for illegally possessing an explosive device, specifically a homemade mine weighing 1.6 kg, for investigation according to their jurisdiction.

The suspect, Nguyen Van Hiep. Photo: Quynh Trang

According to Lieutenant Colonel Pham Hong Phuong, Deputy Head of Department PA92, recognizing that the two suspects acted aggressively and matched the initial investigation results of case 127H, in addition to investigating the illegal possession of explosives, PA92 focused on the ATM explosion in Cua Lo town. Using various investigative tactics and collected evidence, by late January 17th, both suspects confessed to being the perpetrators of the ATM explosion in Cua Lo town.

Specifically, Thanh and Hiep confessed that on December 21, 2017, Thanh bought 2 kg of industrial explosives, 5 detonators, and 5 lengths of slow-burning fuse in Quy Hop and brought them back to his rented room in Vinh City. Both of them used two sticks of explosives to make a homemade mine. Thanh discussed with Hiep the plan to use this mine to blow up an ATM near the College of Tourism, in Nghi Thu ward, Cua Lo town.

“Nguyen Dinh Thanh was on lookout duty, while Nguyen Van Hiep directly placed the mine near the ATM camera, then detonated it but failed to steal any money, so both fled on a motorbike back to their rented room. On January 15th, they manufactured another mine to use in motorbike theft but were arrested by the Nghia Dan District Police,” Lieutenant Colonel Phuong said.

During a search of the two suspects' residences, the police seized two detonators with attached fuses. They also confiscated a hooded jacket from Thanh, which he admitted was the jacket Hiep was wearing when he caused the ATM explosion.

An ATM belonging to the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) was rigged with explosives and detonated on December 22, 2017. Photo: Thanh Binh

Based on the statements of the two suspects, the PA92 Department, in coordination with the Nghia Dan District Police, arrested Luong Van Hoa (born in 1996) and Ngan Van Dung (born in 1992), both residing in Chau Quang commune, Quy Hop district. Hoa and Dung were identified as having sold explosives to Thanh.

Reckless and audacious tactics

Assessing the tactics of the two suspects, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau – Director of the Provincial Police – stated that their methods and tactics were extremely reckless and audacious. If these two suspects had not been apprehended and had continued to commit motorcycle robberies and use explosives to resist arrest, the consequences would have been unpredictable.

"Besides detecting the crime, we prevented a serious crime that would certainly have occurred due to the reckless nature of the operation. On behalf of the provincial police leadership, I would like to acknowledge, commend, and warmly congratulate the special task force on their achievement," Colonel Cau affirmed.

The explosion almost completely destroyed the ATM. Photo: Thanh Binh

Regarding the explosion, the head of the Nghe An Provincial Police said that nearly a month ago, upon receiving information about the explosion, they considered many scenarios, including national security issues. The incident left a negative public impression, and the Ministry of Public Security paid close attention, directing the provincial police to use all available means and forces to clarify this case.

Therefore, the Provincial Police Directorate instructed the professional departments to focus on using professional methods and ultimately arrested the two suspects responsible for the explosion. The officers worked very hard, and Case 127H is a victory for the professional departments and related units.

Regarding the direction of the investigation in the coming period, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau – Director of the Nghe An Provincial Police – instructed the Cua Lo Town Police to prepare the case file and initiate legal proceedings with two charges: "Illegal possession and use of weapons and explosives" and "Destruction of property," and then transfer the file to the PA92 department for investigation.

Considering this a serious case, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau directed the relevant departments to research and discuss with the People's Procuracy to classify it as a priority case, and to organize a rigorous trial in Cua Lo town to serve as a deterrent.

In addition, the investigation conducted experiments to strengthen the evidence, while simultaneously educating the public about the methods and tactics used, and alleviating public concerns that this was merely a normal property theft case, not a matter of national security. During the detention period, the focus was on ensuring the absolute safety of the suspects and conducting a swift investigation. Simultaneously, the PA92 Department, in coordination with the Nghia Dan Police, continued to expand the investigation into the illegal possession and use of weapons and explosives.

The Board of Directors of Nghe An Provincial Police awarded prizes to the 127H Special Task Force. Photo: Quynh Trang

Speaking about the achievements of the Nghe An Provincial Police in 2017, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau said that the Ministry of Public Security highly appreciated the crime prevention work of the Nghe An Provincial Police. The Ministry has commended the Nghe An Provincial Police eight times in all areas of crime prevention.

Following this exceptionally outstanding achievement, and to encourage the forces involved in solving the case, the Nghe An Provincial Police Department decided to award the PA92 Department and the Nghia Dan District Police Department 5 million VND each, and the Criminal Police Department (PC45) and the Cua Lo Town Police Department 2 million VND each. The Nghe An Provincial Police Department also sent a letter to the Ministry of Public Security and the Provincial People's Committee requesting commendations for the aforementioned units.