They broke into the house, held the child hostage, and demanded money from the parents.

Addicted to online games and gambling, and burdened by debt, Truong Cong Anh broke into Mr. Dinh's house, held a 6-year-old girl hostage with a knife, and demanded money from Mr. Dinh and his wife.

Truong Cong Anh and evidence seized in the case - Photo provided by Thanh Hoa Police.

On October 28th, the Thanh Hoa City police are holding suspect Truong Cong Anh (22 years old, residing in Dong Ve ward, Thanh Hoa City) in custody for investigation into the crimes of robbery and child abduction.

According to the initial investigation by the Thanh Hoa City police, at approximately 7 PM on October 27th, Truong Cong Anh, carrying a sharp knife and wearing a face mask, broke into the house of Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh (64 years old, residing at 265A Quang Trung 1 Street, Dong Ve Ward, Thanh Hoa City) to steal property.

Seeing Nguyen Thi Minh N. (6 years old, Mr. Dinh's youngest daughter) sitting and studying on the second floor, Cong Anh rushed in, overpowered her, held a knife to her neck, and forced her to go up to the bedroom on the third floor.

Upon reaching Mr. and Mrs. Dinh's bedroom, Cong Anh kicked down the door and demanded that they hand over all their money, threatening to harm their grandchild N.

Fearing for his daughter's life, Mr. Dinh complied and threw a wad of money totaling over 13 million dong at the assailant.

Taking advantage of the suspect's momentary lapse of attention, Mr. Dinh rushed forward, tackled Cong Anh to the ground, restrained his hands, disarmed him, and threw the knife out the window.

At that moment, N. managed to break free from the restraint and ran to the door, shouting for neighbors to come and help. At the crime scene, the police recovered a 30 cm long sharp knife and a wad of money (in various denominations) totaling 13.2 million VND.

Lieutenant Colonel Thieu Dinh Thanh, deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Team of Thanh Hoa City Police, said that the unit has just issued an order to temporarily detain Truong Cong Anh to investigate his actions of breaking into a house to abduct children and threatening them in order to extort property.

At the police station, Cong Anh confessed that due to his addiction to online games and gambling, and his heavy debts, he conceived the idea of ​​breaking into Mr. Dinh's house to steal. When he saw N., he used a knife to threaten them and demanded money from Mr. and Mrs. Dinh.

According to Tuoi Tre newspaper