Nghe An: Husband staged a scene of catching his wife cheating to blackmail her lover

On March 7, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Province Police said that the unit had just caught red-handed two subjects Nguyen Van Phuong (born 1990) and Tran Xuan Son (born 1980), both residing in Xuan Linh Commune, Nghi Xuan District, Ha Tinh Province, for the act of "Extortion of property".

During the investigation, the police clarified the criminal acts of the two subjects. The incident began in February 2020, when Nguyen Van Phuong discovered that his wife, Ms. A., had been texting "sweet" messages with a man named L., a former colleague of Ms. A., and that the two occasionally made plans to go out together.

Angry because his wife cheated on him, Phuong threatened and forced his wife to make an appointment with her lover so that Phuong could catch her red-handed and punish her. Fearing that her husband would beat her and divorce her, Ms. A. accepted her husband's request.

On February 15, Ms. A. made an appointment with Mr. L. to meet at a coffee shop under the supervision of Phuong and Nguyen Xuan Son (Phuong's friend). Afterwards, the two went to PH hotel together to rent a room. Upon arriving at the hotel, Ms. A. texted her husband the room number.

Two subjects at the police station. Photo: Minh Tam

Receiving his wife's message, Phuong and Son went to the hotel to rent a room next door to monitor her. A while later, Phuong went to room 403 where his wife was staying and knocked on the door. Fearing that he would be discovered, Mr. L. opened the window and climbed out and went down to the lobby. Ms. A. came out of the bathroom and opened the door. Not seeing Mr. L., Phuong questioned his wife, but Ms. A. did not know.

Phuong asked his wife to call her lover back by all means. After Mr. L. went upstairs, Phuong and Son rushed into the room and caught him red-handed. Phuong rushed in and beat Mr. L. and used a knife to threaten and take Mr. L.'s phone, forcing him to unlock it to call his family. At this time, Tran Van Son also pulled out a knife and threatened Mr. L., searching his wallet for his driver's license and car keys.

Not stopping there, Phuong asked Mr. L. and Ms. A. to get into bed to record a video with the purpose of threatening to send it to Mr. L.'s family and wife despite their pleas. After that, Phuong asked Mr. L. to give 120 million VND, otherwise she would send the video to his wife and post it on social media. However, Mr. L. did not accept.

A few days later, Phuong and Son went to Mr. L's house. Through the victim's father, they learned Mr. L's wife's phone number, so the two continued to call and threaten the victim to quickly give the requested amount of money or they would tell Mr. L's wife.

Constantly threatened and afraid of affecting his family life and work, Mr. L. borrowed 80 million VND from everywhere and reported the incident to the police.

On the morning of February 26, Mr. L. brought money to meet Phuong and Son at a coffee shop on Nguyen Van Troi Street, Ben Thuy Ward, Vinh City. When they met, Mr. L. asked Phuong to reduce the amount of money, Phuong agreed to reduce it to 100 million VND and asked Mr. L. to write an IOU of 20 million VND. While the two subjects were receiving money from Mr. L., detectives from the Criminal Police Department arrested Nguyen Van Phuong and Tran Xuan Son for the act of "Extortion of property".

The police seized 80 million VND in cash. They searched and seized from Phuong a switchblade knife, a Samsung phone, a car key and a driver's license of Mr. L.

At the police station, Phuong and Son admitted all their crimes.

Based on the criminal acts of the two subjects, the Nghe An Police Investigation Agency has decided to prosecute the case and prosecute the defendants for the crime of property extortion.