A group of thieves who specialize in breaking safes and stealing property from temples and pagodas have fallen into the hands of the law.

On the morning of April 11, the Nghi Loc District Police Investigation Agency said: One day before, the unit successfully broke the case.theft of property, arrested 3 subjects including: Dang Mai Ngoc (born 1995); Nguyen Van Dung (born 1992), both residing in Hamlet 2, Nghi Xuan Commune; Nguyen Duy Quan (born 1998), residing in Hamlet 6, Nghi Phong Commune, Nghi Loc District.

Previously, from the beginning of February 2021 until now, in Nghi Loc district and surrounding areas such as Vinh city, Cua Lo town... there were often cases of safe theft in people's houses, temples, pagodas... Thieves used pliers to break locks to break into houses, temples, pagodas, used pry bars to break safes, steal money and property.

Objects and exhibits. Photo: NT

Faced with that situation, the leaders of Nghi Loc District Police directed the Criminal Investigation Police Team on criminal - economic - drug crimes to preside over and coordinate with professional teams and the police of communes and towns to establish a special project to fight.

While the Task Force was focusing on investigating and verifying, two more safe thefts occurred, specifically: At around 2:00 p.m. on April 6, a thief cut the lock, broke the door, and broke into the bedroom of Ms. Le Thi Hoa's family, residing in Hamlet 2, Nghi Xuan Commune, Nghi Loc District, broke into the safe and stole 8.5 taels of gold and about 10 million VND in cash, with a total value of more than 50 million VND.

Three days earlier, a similar incident had occurred at Lu Son Pagoda in Hamlet 1, Nghi Quang Commune, Nghi Loc District. The pagoda’s safe was broken into by thieves, who stole about 5 million VND.

After a period of persistently studying the subjects' operating patterns, the investigation agency identified Dang Mai Ngoc, Nguyen Van Dung and Nguyen Duy Quan as the three main subjects of the project.

On the morning of April 10, the Investigation Committee determined that the subjects were present in Nghi Xuan and Nghi Phong communes, so they divided into many secret working groups to approach and arrest them. During an urgent search, the investigation agency seized 4 damaged safes; 1 donation box; 8 taels of gold; 2 motorbikes; 4 mobile phones; more than 10 million VND and other evidence related to the cases.

During the process of working with the Investigation Police Agency, Ngoc, Dung, and Quan initially confessed that from the beginning of February 2020 until now, the subjects have committed more than 15 cases of safe theft and donation box theft in Nghi Loc district and neighboring areas such as Cua Lo town, Vinh city... with a total loss of over 500 million VND. Of which, the two cases of safe theft of Ms. Le Thi Hoa's family in Hamlet 2, Nghi Xuan commune and Lu Son pagoda, Nghi Quang commune mentioned above were both committed by the subjects.

Currently, Nghi Loc District Police are continuing to investigate and expand the case, arrest the remaining subjects, and consolidate the case file to handle the subjects according to the provisions of law.