Deputy Chief Inspector of the Department of Transport was arrested

On the afternoon of September 15, Mr. Duong Minh Tam (36 years old), Deputy Chief Inspector of Can Tho Department of Transport, was arrested by the police for allegedly being involved in the case of receiving 3.5 billion VND in protection money.

Police read the arrest warrant and searched the house of Can Tho Deputy Chief Traffic Inspector Duong Minh Tam. Photo: Cuu Long

This morning, Mr. Duong Minh Tam, Deputy Chief Inspector of Traffic in Can Tho, still went to work as usual. Afterwards, he was invited by the police to the investigation agency for questioning and then taken home to carry out the arrest warrant.

Tam "Xi Tin" is among a group of 11 traffic inspectors who were transferred to the Can Tho Department of Transport office a few days ago. He is the nephew of a leader of the Can Tho Department of Transport; he is considered one of the cases with a fairly quick promotion path in the Can Tho traffic inspectorate.

In mid-July, Deputy Inspector of Traffic Inspection Team No. 3 Ly Hoang Minh directly went to collect protection money from a series of bus companies operating in Ninh Kieu district and was caught red-handed by the police. Based on the testimony of this officer, Vo Hoang Anh (head of Team 3), Doan Vu Duy (head of Team 11) and protection broker Nguyen Van Can were arrested one after another.

Police searched the house of the Deputy Chief Inspector of Traffic in Can Tho at noon on September 15. Photo: Cuu Long

Initially, Hoang Anh and Hoang Minh confessed to receiving nearly 3.5 billion VND in protection money. Of this, Can negotiated the payment, collected money from the bus companies and businesses, and transferred about 3 billion VND to the account of this group of officials, from 2014 to present. The remaining amount was directly collected by the two traffic inspectors.

To date, the investigation agency has determined that over 60 businesses have paid "dead money" to the traffic inspection group.

The case is under further investigation.

According to VNE