A big drug lord in Vinh city burned his car to destroy evidence when he was arrested.

Two years of "inaction"

Nguyen Phi Hung was born in 1978 in a well-behaved family. His parents were both retired civil servants in Cua Nam ward, Vinh city. His siblings were all successful, but he himself, due to his nature of being a playboy, a loafer, and not being willing to work honestly, fell into crime.

In 2011, Nguyen Phi Hung was sentenced to 11 years and 6 months in prison by the People's Court of Quang Ninh province for "Illegal drug trafficking".

Nghe An: Dismantling a 'huge' drug ring, seizing 40kg of drugs and 20 heroin cakes

(Baonghean.vn) - During the arrest, 4 subjects in the transnational drug ring fought back fiercely, deliberately rammed their car straight into the police force, and poured gasoline on the car in an attempt to burn it to destroy evidence.

In 2017, he was released from prison. At that time, although he was already a man in his forties, he still had no intention of getting married. Although he did not have a stable job, Hung was very well off financially. Hung changed luxury cars like changing clothes. Few people knew what Hung did because he lived a rather private life.

4 subjects in a drug ring have just been busted by Vinh City Police. Photo: Quynh Trang

After two years of "staying still", in early 2019, Hung established a transnational drug trafficking ring with the participation of key figures and sophisticated tricks. But he could not have imagined that all his activities since leaving prison could not escape the eyes of the reconnaissance force. The police force had a firm grasp of his movements, meetings, and relationships with anyone. Project 519D was established to fight.

The hot, stuffy summer days are nothing compared to the tense atmosphere at the "case" meetings of the Special Investigation Committee. Because the Special Investigation Committee determined that the subjects in this network were all extremely reckless and cunning "old foxes". Meticulous plans were drawn up to prepare for a "battle" with the determination not to let criminals escape but to ensure absolute safety for the participating forces and the masses.

Through a period of monitoring the movements of the subjects, the Task Force identified the subjects participating in this huge drug ring as Le Hong Hai (born in 1977, residing in Cua Nam ward, Vinh city); Le Ba Thao (born in 1980, residing in Dong Vinh ward, Vinh city); Lau Ba Chong (born in 1995, residing in Muong Tip commune, Ky Son district).

Each subject is assigned specific tasks and are important links under Hung's direct management.

Controlling Le Hong Hai when he tried to burn the car to destroy evidence. Photo: Xuan Bac

Being a Mong ethnic, knowing Lao and familiar with the mountainous terrain, Lau Ba Chong was selected by Hung to "join" his network. With Chong's strengths, Hung assigned him the task of directly collecting goods in Laos and then bringing them to Vietnam through unofficial channels. The other two subjects were tasked with dealing with the southern consumer base and supporting Hung and Thao when needed.

The subjects operated in a large area, the Task Force worked day and night to monitor and pursue the subjects, especially the reconnaissance team in the border area, where the mountains and forests were rugged and difficult to travel. During this time, 24/7, the reconnaissance teams took turns gathering information on the roads.

After a period of monitoring and collecting evidence and documents, the Task Force has grasped the rules of the subjects' activities. After many days and nights of rolling on the routes with more than 50 reconnaissance teams deployed to all roads, combined with professional measures, the opportunity has also ripened.

Pour gasoline and burn the car to destroy evidence

At 7:00 p.m. on July 2, 2019, the reconnaissance teams were divided into many groups, with more than 100 officers and soldiers spread from Vinh City to Thanh Chuong District, in which the key points were Cua Nam Ward (Vinh City), National Highway 46C and Thanh Thuy border gate in Thanh Chuong District.

At 1:00 a.m. on July 3, 2019, the black KIA car driven by Hung started moving from his private home in Cua Nam ward, Vinh city. According to the information obtained by the detective, Hung would follow National Highway 46 to Thanh Thuy border gate to pick up Lau Ba Chong and his "goods".

At the same time, the Vios car driven by Thao also rolled from Vinh City to Thanh Chuong with the mission of scouting the route to support Hung and Chong.

Evidence of the case. Photo: Quynh Trang

With the mission of receiving goods from Chong and then "escorting" the "goods" to the South for consumption, Hai's car took many detours to avoid the authorities. Specifically, Hai took the route from Nghi Xuan (Ha Tinh province) to Duc Tho intersection (Ha Tinh) and then circled back to Nghe An province to the meeting point of Hung and Chong.

At this time, it was raining heavily, and the criminals were constantly changing their license plates, making it difficult to track the criminals. However, with their determination, the detectives were able to track down every move of the criminals.

At 3:00 a.m. on July 3, 2019, on National Highway 46C, in Thanh Thuy Commune, Thanh Chuong District, all three vehicles were traveling on the same route. The first was Hung and Chong's vehicle; then Hai's vehicle (which already had "goods" on board) and finally Thao's vehicle; each vehicle was 100 meters apart.

The opportunity came, the task force used pickup trucks to block all directions, surrounding all 3 vehicles of the subjects. Seeing the "movement", the first and last 2 vehicles of Hung and Thao rushed forward at very high speed, aiming to crash head-on into the authorities. At that moment, the vehicle carrying Hai's "goods" ran in the other direction in an attempt to escape.

One of the vehicles the suspects used to transport drugs. Photo: Xuan Bac

But with the carefully arranged battleground, Hai's car was quickly controlled. Realizing that there was no way back, Hai poured gasoline all over the car and set it on fire to destroy the evidence. Foreseeing the danger, and with quick thinking, a scout had to take off the shirt he was still wearing, wet it with water, and then rushed straight into the car to put out the nascent fire. Two other scouts controlled Hai and immediately stole the gas tank that Hai was about to continue pouring.

At this moment, Hung and Thao's two cars were also caught.

At the scene, 20 kg of crystal meth, 20 kg of ketamine, 20 heroin bars, 3 cars, 1 motorbike and 7 mobile phones were seized. Searching the residence of Nguyen Phi Hung in block 11, Cua Nam ward (Vinh city), Vinh city police seized a large amount of money including US dollars and Vietnamese dong with a total value of 8 billion VND. Vinh city police are currently continuing to expand the investigation.