'Protecting' rice harvesting machines, man sentenced to 16 months in prison.

((Baonghean.vn) - On the morning of September 27th, the People's Court of Do Luong district tried the defendants: Nguyen Hong Diep (born in 1899) and Thai Van Hiep (born in 1988), residing in Hamlet 6, Thinh Son commune, Do Luong district, for the crime of "Extortion" as stipulated in Article 135 of the Penal Code.

According to the indictment from the Prosecutor's Office: On June 1, 2016, after being asked by the owner of a multi-purpose combine harvester in Yen Son commune to find rice fields that needed harvesting, he was paid 30,000 VND per sao (a unit of land measurement), and was also instructed not to allow any unfamiliar combine harvesters to harvest in the area.

Illustrative image.

After agreeing to the deal, Hiep saw Hoang Van Hai's (born in 1968) combine harvester in Xuan Son commune harvesting rice for local residents, so he and Diep approached him and demanded protection money of 1.5 million VND.

Seeing the men demanding money, Ms. Lien, Mr. Hai's wife, reacted and refused. Hiep then grabbed a sharp knife and ran down to the field, approaching the harvesting machine and threatening to attack Mr. Hai, preventing him from continuing to harvest the rice. Hiep then held the knife close to Ms. Lien's neck.

Out of fear, Mr. Hai then called to negotiate and gave the two individuals 1 million VND.

For the above actions, the court sentenced Thai Van Hiep to 12 months in prison and Nguyen Hong Diep to 4 months in prison.

Truong Duyen