Chinese passenger sentenced to 8 years in prison for stealing 400 million VND on plane

Mr. Ding Ying Jun was flying business class. When the passengers in the cabin were distracted, he opened the luggage compartment and stole the bags of two passengers.

On the afternoon of December 8, the Hanoi People's Court opened a first-instance trial and sentenced defendant Ding Ying Jun (born in 1970, Chinese nationality) to 8 years in prison for the crime of "theft of property".

Ding Ying Jun stole nearly 400 million VND from two passengers on a plane from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi in April 2017.

Chinese passenger stole 400 million VND. Illustration photo

The court clarified as follows: on April 15, Ding Ying Jun entered Vietnam through Tan Son Nhat airport, Ho Chi Minh City. The next morning, Ding Ying Jun took flight VN 216 of Vietnam Airlines from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.

On this flight, Ding Ying Jun bought a business class ticket with several other passengers, including Mr. Le Cao Minh (residing in Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City) and Mr. Cu Anh Tuan (residing in Cau Giay District, Hanoi). As soon as the plane took off, Ding Ying Jun immediately moved her seat to near where Mr. Minh and Mr. Tuan had their luggage.

About 40 minutes later, seeing that the passengers in the business class were not paying attention, Ding Ying Jun secretly opened the luggage compartment and took Mr. Tuan's leather bag, taking 100 million VND and 400 USD. After that, Ding Ying Jun continued to rummage through Mr. Minh's luggage and stole an envelope containing 13,000 USD.

At that moment, Ding Ying Jun was discovered by Ms. Ta Thi Thu Huong (chief flight attendant of flight VN 216) for his sneaky behavior. Seeing this, Ding Ying Jun asked Ms. Huong to give him a cup of tea. When Ms. Huong turned around, Ding Ying Jun was no longer sitting in his old position.

Connecting the dodgy acts, Ms. Huong asked Mr. Tuan to check the property and discovered that 100 million VND and 400 USD were missing. When questioned by Ms. Huong, Ding Ying Jun did not admit to stealing money in the business class cabin.

Seeing that he was being followed, Ding Ying Jun took out two wads of money (in denominations of 500,000 VND each) and an envelope containing 13,000 USD and threw them into the luggage compartment.

As soon as the plane landed at Noi Bai airport, Ms. Huong and the two passengers who had their belongings stolen handed over Ding Ying Jun to the airport police.

The prosecution determined that Ding Ying Jun had stolen a total of nearly 400 million VND from Mr. Minh and Mr. Tuan. However, Ding Ying Jun stubbornly denied the crime, claiming that he had accidentally discovered the bundles of money and envelopes containing foreign currency in the luggage compartment and hid them.

Based on the evidence, investigation documents and witness statements, the jury confirmed that the defendant Ding Ying Jun had committed theft. It is known that at the time of the crime, Ding Ying Jun was wanted by Chinese authorities for theft.

According to Tuoi Tre