The journey to capture the perpetrator who planted a bomb to blow up an ATM in Nghe An

Making mines, blowing up ATMs to get money

On the afternoon of January 19, the Board of Directors of Nghe An Provincial Police organized an award ceremony for Project Team 127H for their achievements in arresting 2 subjects who planted mines to explode an ATM in Cua Lo Town on December 22, 2017. The 2 subjects are: Nguyen Dinh Thanh (born in 1996) and Nguyen Van Hiep (born in 1999), both residing in Quy Hop District.

Subject Nguyen Dinh Thanh Photo: Quynh Trang

Previously, at around 2:00 a.m. on December 22, an explosion occurred at the ATM of the Industrial and Commercial Bank, Cua Lo Town branch. Upon receiving the report, the provincial police leaders dispatched professional units including: PA92, PC45, PC54 and Cua Lo Town Police to investigate and examine the scene.

On December 29, 2017, the Provincial Police established Project 127H to focus on investigating and clarifying the case. On January 10, the Investigation Police Agency of Cua Lo Town Police issued a decision to prosecute the case for the crime of "Property Destruction".

Reporting on the results of the project, the leader of PA92 department said that after being assigned by the project committee, PA92 department developed a plan to combat the project, and at the same time sent experienced investigators to participate, synchronously implementing professional measures, thereby identifying a number of related sources of information and clues.

On January 17, Nghia Dan District Police arrested and transferred to PA92 Department the case of two subjects Nguyen Dinh Thanh (born in 1996, residing in Chau Quang Commune, Quy Hop District) and Nguyen Van Hiep (born in 1999, residing in Chau Thai Commune, Quy Hop) for illegal possession of explosives, a homemade mine weighing 1.6 kg, for investigation according to authority.

Subject Nguyen Van Hiep. Photo: Quynh Trang

According to Lieutenant Colonel Pham Hong Phuong - Deputy Head of PA92, realizing that the two subjects had reckless activities, with characteristics that matched the initial investigation results of Project 127H, in addition to fighting to clarify the illegal storage of explosives, PA92 focused on fighting related to the ATM explosion in Cua Lo Town. Using fighting tactics and collected documents, by the late night of January 17, both subjects bowed their heads and confessed to being the perpetrators of the ATM explosion in Cua Lo Town.

Specifically, Thanh and Hiep confessed that on December 21, 2017, Thanh bought 2kg of industrial explosives, 5 detonators, and 5 pieces of slow-burning wire in Quy Hop and brought them back to their rented room in Vinh City. The two took 2 sticks of explosives to make a homemade mine. Thanh discussed with Hiep using this mine to blow up an ATM next to the College of Tourism, in Nghi Thu Ward, Cua Lo Town.

“Nguyen Dinh Thanh was on guard duty, while Nguyen Van Hiep directly stuck the mine into the ATM camera, then detonated it but could not get the money, so both of them escaped and rode a motorbike back to their rented room. On January 15, both of them made another mine to use to steal a motorbike and were arrested by Nghia Dan District Police,” said Lieutenant Colonel Phuong.

Searching the residence of the two subjects, the police seized two detonators with fuses attached, and seized from Thanh a hooded jacket which, according to the subject, was the shirt Hiep was wearing when he blew up the ATM.

The ATM of the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade was bombed on December 22, 2017. Photo: Thanh Binh

Based on the statements of the two subjects, Department PA92 coordinated with Nghia Dan District Police to arrest Luong Van Hoa (born in 1996) and Ngan Van Dung (born in 1992), both residing in Chau Quang Commune, Quy Hop District. Hoa and Dung were identified as having sold explosives to Thanh.

Reckless and daring tricks

Assessing the methods of the two subjects above, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Director of the Provincial Police Department said that the methods and tricks of the subjects were extremely reckless and daring. If these two subjects had not been arrested and continued to commit motorbike robberies and use mines to fight back, it is unknown what the consequences would have been.

“In addition to detecting crimes, we have prevented a serious crime that would have certainly occurred with reckless operations. On behalf of the provincial police leadership, I would like to acknowledge, commend and warmly congratulate the achievements of the Task Force,” Colonel Cau affirmed.

The explosion almost completely damaged the ATM. Photo: Thanh Binh

Regarding the explosion, the head of Nghe An Police said that nearly a month ago, when we received information about the explosion, we thought of many situations, including national security issues. The incident left bad public opinion and the Ministry of Public Security was very concerned, so it directed the provincial Police to use all measures and forces to clarify this case.

Therefore, the Provincial Police Department has directed the professional departments to focus on using professional measures and finally arrested the two subjects who caused the explosion. The comrades worked very hard and the 127H project is a feat of the professional departments and related units.

Regarding the direction of the investigation in the coming time, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Director of Nghe An Police assigned Cua Lo Town Police to prepare a file, prosecute the case with 2 charges of "Illegal possession and use of weapons and explosives" and "Property destruction", then transfer the file to PA92 department to organize the investigation.

Assessing this as a serious case, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau directed the professional departments to research and discuss with the People's Procuracy to include it in the key case, organize and strictly try it in Cua Lo town to have a deterrent effect.

In addition, the organization conducted an investigation experiment to consolidate the evidence, at the same time, propagandize to the people to clearly understand the methods and tricks and relieve the people's psychology that this was just a normal property theft explosion, not a matter of national security. During the detention process, focus on absolutely protecting the safety of the suspects, focusing on quick investigation. At the same time, Department PA92 coordinated with Nghia Dan Police to continue to expand and investigate further the issue of illegal storage and use of weapons and explosives.

Nghe An Police Department awards the 127H Project Team. Photo: Quynh Trang

Talking about the achievements of Nghe An Police in 2017, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau said that the Ministry of Public Security highly appreciated the crime prevention work of Nghe An Police. The Ministry has commended Nghe An Police 8 times in all areas of crime prevention.

In order to encourage the forces involved in solving the case, the Board of Directors of Nghe An Police decided to reward Department PA92 and Nghia Dan District Police with 5 million VND each, and the Criminal Police Department (PC45) and Cua Lo Town Police with 2 million VND each. The Board of Directors of Nghe An Provincial Police also sent a dispatch requesting the Ministry of Public Security and the Provincial People's Committee to reward the above units.

Pham Bang