Nghe An: Gambler kidnapped while participating in fraudulent gambling
(Baonghean.vn) - Angry and bitter because a gambler cheated them out of all their money, Nguyen Thi Hoa and her husband beat them, robbed them of all their money, then kidnapped and held them captive, demanding a ransom of 130 million VND.
On April 23, information from the Criminal Police Department, Nghe An Provincial Police said that the unit has just issued a decision to prosecute the case, prosecuting 15 defendants for the crimes of "Gambling"; "Organizing gambling"; "Robbery" and "Kidnapping for the purpose of appropriating property". Among them, the Nghe An Police Investigation Agency has issued a nationwide wanted notice for 2 subjects.
Previously in mid-March, the Criminal Police Department, Nghe An Provincial Police received a complaint from Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhu Loan (Quy Hop town) about her husband, Nguyen Van Thai (born in 1987, residing in Quy Hop town) being kidnapped, demanding 130 million VND in ransom. Fearing for her husband's life, Ms. Loan managed to borrow 120 million VND at night to pay the subjects and asked for a reduction of 10 million VND because she could not afford it. After receiving the money, the subjects released the person. After rescuing her husband safely, Ms. Loan went to the police station to report.
After receiving the victim's complaint, the leader of the Criminal Police Department requested Team 4 to investigate and clarify the case. Based on the victim's report, the police force took the victim Nguyen Van Thai's statement and collected information related to the case.
During the process of working with Thai, the investigators found many complicated details and the incident did not stop at the victim's complaint. The assumptions and suspicions raised by the investigators were related to Thai and his relationship with the gamblers. The knots in the case made the investigation difficult.
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| Gambling devices seized by police. Photo: Anh Quan |
According to collected documents, Nguyen Van Thai is a famous gambler in Quy Hop district. Around the beginning of March 2020, Thai, Dinh Van Tu (born in 1964, Chau Quang commune, Quy Hop district) and 5 other local people often went to Nghia Dan to gamble. It is worth mentioning that Thai and Tu are "cheating gamblers". Through investigation, these 2 subjects often bought cheating gambling equipment on social networks and lured some gamblers in Quy Hop to go to Nghia Dan to gamble.
In Nghia Dan, the subjects gambled with a group of three sisters led by Nguyen Thi Hoa (born in 1988, residing in Nghia Yen commune, Nghia Dan district). Hoa's younger siblings, Nguyen Thi Huyen and Nguyen Thi Hien, also reside in Nghia Yen commune, Nghia Dan district. The group also included Hoa's husband, Le Tuan Anh, and Nguyen Van Hieu (Hien's husband), along with Nguyen Manh Hung and Nguyen Hong Tinh, the three sisters' uncles. To hide from the police, Hoa often organized gambling on deserted hills and arranged for people to keep watch.
On the evening of March 24, from Quy Hop district, Tu, Thai and 5 other people including Nguyen Ba Sy, Le Dinh Dinh, Dinh Van Cuong, Pham Xuan Tien, Nguyen Van Viet went to Nghia Yen commune, Nghia Dan district to gamble. The location chosen by Hoa to organize this gambling was Cam hill, in Moi hamlet, Nghia Yen commune, Nghia Dan district.
Before gambling, Hoa collected 6 million VND from the subjects and gave the dice bowl to Tu to check. Being a gambler, Tu took advantage of the loophole and switched the bowl with a gambling device attached. After gambling for nearly half an hour, Tu gave Nguyen Van Thai a phone connected to the chip that Tu was carrying. The device that Tu and Thai used to gamble consisted of a dice bowl with a device attached, a chip and a phone connected to the vibrating chip. Accordingly, Thai sat in the position opposite Tu, when shaking the dice, Thai's phone showed the odd or even result, Thai would signal Tu to place a bet. With such a trick, in all the gambling games, Tu and Thai always won a large amount of money.
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| Subject Nguyen Thi Hoa. Photo: Anh Quan |
During the gambling, seeing Tu showing many unusual signs, Nguyen Thi Hien discovered that the subject was using cheating gambling tricks, so she signaled everyone to hold Thai and Tu for inspection. At this time, Le Tuan Anh smashed the dice bowl and discovered a chip attached to the bowl. Angry and bitter because of being cheated by the subjects, this group of people rushed in to beat them. Taking advantage of the chaos, Tu fled the scene, Thai was held back and beaten by the subjects. Nguyen Thi Hoa searched and robbed Thai of 27 million VND. In addition, Hoa also threatened and forced Thai to transfer all the money in the bank via the Smart Banking application, which was 14 million VND.
Not stopping there, Le Tuan Anh called Thai's family to demand a ransom of 130 million VND. After that, Le Tuan Anh took Thai to the Lang Canh Dam area, Nghia Yen commune, about 4 km from the scene. After learning that her husband was kidnapped, Thai's wife brought money to ransom him.
Based on the criminal acts of the subjects, the Nghe An Police Investigation Agency issued an emergency detention order for Nguyen Thi Hoa and Le Tuan Anh and summoned and arrested related subjects to clarify the incident. All 15 subjects in these two groups were prosecuted for gambling; in which, Nguyen Thi Hoa was prosecuted for 3 crimes: Gambling, Organizing Gambling and Robbery. Le Tuan Anh was prosecuted for Gambling and Kidnapping for the purpose of appropriating property. The police agency clarified that the amount of money the subjects gambled on March 24 was more than 80 million VND. In particular, the two subjects Dinh Van Tu and Nguyen Van Viet fled the locality. The Criminal Police Department has issued a wanted notice for these two subjects.
The case is still under further investigation.
