Living under the guise of a dead sworn brother to escape capture for 12 years

On October 9, information from the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Province Police said that the unit had handed over Truong Huy Kien (born in 1970, former cadastral officer of Nghia Xuan commune, Quy Hop, Nghe An) to relevant units for further investigation and handling according to authority.

According to the records, in 2004-2006, Truong Huy Kien was a land officer in Nghia Xuan commune, Quy Hop district. Taking advantage of people's need for red books, this man forged land books and then appropriated the money that people paid. Kien continued to use these fake red books to borrow 210 million VND from the bank. In addition, Kien also borrowed money from outside but was unable to pay it back.

After receiving the complaint from the people, the police started investigating and discovered that the amount of money Kien had embezzled was up to 500 million VND. Hearing that he was being investigated, Kien, who was attending a course in Thanh Hoa province at the time, quickly escaped. On May 26, 2006, the Quy Hop District Police issued an order to temporarily detain Kien for "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and "Forgery in work".

Subject Nguyen Huy Kien. Photo: NH

After a period of unsuccessful pursuit, on June 10, 2006, the Investigation Police Agency of Quy Hop District Police issued a wanted notice for Truong Huy Kien for "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and "Forgery in work".

For many years, the police have been deploying forces to investigate and arrest Kien but without results. One difficulty is that Kien has completely cut off contact with relatives and friends, and his family has not been cooperative, so the detectives have encountered many difficulties in the verification process.

By the end of September 2018, the detectives had information that Kien, after escaping, had gone to Hanoi to hide. However, Kien did not stay in one location but frequently changed his residence, moving here and there to avoid detection. In 2012, Kien drifted to Yen Bai province to make a living.

Immediately after determining the suspect's hiding place, the leaders of the Criminal Police Department on Social Order immediately established a special project coded 918L to capture the suspect. A working group was immediately sent to Yen Bai to verify. After several days of persistent searching, the detectives discovered a man named Nguyen Phi Hung (born in 1981) residing in Vinh Kien commune, Yen Binh district, whose appearance and identifying characteristics were very similar to Truong Huy Kien.

At the same time, detectives discovered Kien's mother and sister in Vinh Yen commune. The detectives determined that Kien might be in Vinh Yen commune. However, when verifying the identity of the man named Nguyen Phi Hung, the detectives found that the subject had a good background, currently had a wife and two daughters. The investigation team determined that Kien was currently hiding in Vinh Kien commune, possibly having changed his name to Nguyen Phi Hung to conceal his identity.

On the evening of October 2, 2018, the Task Force received information that Nguyen Phi Hung had just returned home after a long time working away from home. The task force immediately arrived at Vinh Kien Commune, coordinated with Yen Binh District Police and Vinh Kien Commune Police to conduct an ambush at Hung's house.

At around 10am on October 3rd, discovering Nguyen Phi Hung in the house and confirming that Hung was Truong Huy Kien, the task force suddenly rushed in to control and arrest the subject, much to the surprise of many people. Although a bit frightened, Truong Huy Kien still denied the crime and always affirmed that he was Nguyen Phi Hung.

However, through the struggle, faced with undeniable evidence, Kien had to bow his head and admit all his crimes.

According to his confession, while on the run, Kien used the ID card of Nguyen Phi Hung - a deceased sworn brother - to paste his photo on to legalize the paperwork, under the guise of being an honest man. After divorcing his first wife, 6 years ago, Truong Huy Kien married his second wife, who is from Yen Bai, and now has 2 children together.

Kien is also the brother-in-law of a police officer in Vinh Kien commune, so he is trusted by everyone. At the time of his arrest, his wife, children and neighbors were extremely surprised to learn that Kien was a long-wanted fraudster.

At the investigation agency, Truong Huy Kien confided that he had thought about surrendering many times, but he could not bear to think about his young children and that if his wife and children knew he was a wanted man.