Thief of incense burner at Hoang Muoi Temple surrenders

After stealing a bronze incense burner to sell, Tuan fled the area knowing he was under investigation. More than half a year later, the thief returned and turned himself in.

Hoang Muoi Temple - where thief Nguyen Ngoc Tuan stole the incense burner

On March 12, Lieutenant Colonel Bui Trong Tue - Deputy Head of Hung Nguyen District Police (Nghe An) - said that the authorities have decided to prosecute the case and prosecute Nguyen Ngoc Tuan (born in 1994, residing in Hung Thinh Commune, Hung Nguyen, Nghe An) for theft of property.

According to the investigation results, on the evening of June 2, 2011, Tuan went to Ong Hoang Muoi Temple to sleep and had the intention of stealing the bronze incense burner from the temple. After dragging the incense burner weighing more than 20kg out of the temple for nearly 1km, Tuan smashed the incense burner into pieces and put them in 3 sacks and hid them under the foot of the Hung Loi bridge (Hung Nguyen). Then Tuan invited Truong Van Phap (born in 1995, in the same village) to sell it for 2.6 million VND.

Discovering that a bronze incense burner worth more than 20 million VND had been stolen from the temple, the Management Board of Ong Hoang Muoi Temple reported the matter to the police. Knowing that the police were investigating, Tuan fled the area, but after more than half a year on the run, Nguyen Ngoc Tuan turned himself in.

Currently, the authorities are completing the case file to bring the case to trial. As for Truong Van Phap, he was under 18 years old at the time of the crime, so he was only subject to an administrative penalty and not criminal prosecution.

By: Dan Tri