Engineer who robbed a bank with a gun gets 20 years in prison

Prosecuted for robbery using dangerous weapons with the amount of nearly 2.4 billion VND, the highest penalty that defendant Le Lam Hung was prosecuted for is life imprisonment or death penalty.

Defendant Le Lam Hung at trial

On September 21, Tra Vinh People's Court opened a mobile trial of the Vietcombank robbery case in Duyen Hai district, Tra Vinh province, committed by defendant Le Lam Hung - 29 years old, former electrical engineer working at Thermal Power Project Management Board 3.

The trial was held at the market entrance area of ​​Ward 1, Duyen Hai town, Tra Vinh province, where the robbery took place.

Tra Vinh Provincial People's Court sentenced defendant Le Lam Hung to 20 years in prison for robbery and ordered him to pay an additional compensation of more than VND1.2 billion.

The jury determined that the defendant’s actions were particularly dangerous, premeditated and calculated. The defendant used a gun to threaten bank employees in order to intimidate them and appropriate their property.

After committing the crime, the defendant disposed of the evidence to conceal his crime and caused many difficulties for the investigation agency. The court also considered the defendant's good character and honest confession to consider mitigating the sentence.

Robbed a bank because of a betting loss

According to the indictment of the People's Procuracy of Tra Vinh province, Hung was an electrical engineer working at the Thermal Power Project Management Board 3 but got involved in gambling, online football betting and lost a large amount of money.

To have money to pay off debt and continue gambling, Hung borrowed money from many friends, relatives, and colleagues, but the more he played, the more he lost.

When the creditor demanded money, Hung had the idea of ​​robbing a bank, so he went to Ho Chi Minh City to buy a plastic gun (a pellet gun), a jacket, and a mask, waiting for an opportunity to commit the crime.

At around 9am on April 26, Hung wore construction safety shoes and prepared items to rob a bank in Duyen Hai.

The defendant pointed a gun at 6 employees and threatened them, forcing the victims to put money in two bags. After robbing nearly 1.6 billion VND and 35,900 USD, Hung got out and took his car to escape towards the thermal power plant.

Hung took the stolen money back to his dormitory room to hide and use it to pay off his debt.

On April 27, 28, and 29, Hung used the stolen money to redeem motorbikes and laptops and pay debts in cash and through bank transfers to 26 people in Ho Chi Minh City and Quang Ninh, totaling more than 1.5 billion.

Hundreds of people gathered to watch the trial.

Hung took the gun used in the crime to the coal pipeline wharf of the factory and threw it into the sea to destroy the evidence.

Take 1.6 billion to pay off debt

After 10 days of investigation, on the afternoon of May 6, the Criminal Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) and Tra Vinh Police arrested Hung, searched his workplace and seized 10 million VND and 35,900 USD.

During the investigation, it was clarified that the total amount of money the defendant robbed (converted to 3,590 USD) was nearly 2.4 billion VND.

Working with the investigation agency, Hung confessed and admitted that his crime was due to gambling debts, so he robbed the bank to get money to pay off the debt. The total amount of money he took to pay off the debt was nearly 1.6 billion. The investigation agency recovered 355 million VND.

At the time of the robbery, Vietcombank had an insurance contract so the entire amount of money stolen was compensated.

Defendant Le Lam Hung was prosecuted under Clause b, Article 133 of the Penal Code, which stipulates a prison sentence of 18-20 years, life imprisonment or death penalty.

According to tuoitre