Young man travels across provinces to break into gold shop and steal property.
(Baonghean.vn) - For five years, he traveled throughout the provinces from the North to the Central region, breaking into gold shops in the middle of the night to steal property, and then taking it to China to sell.
In the early morning of March 29, 2018, taking advantage of the lack of security, thieves broke into the Ngoc Khanh gold shop (Block 3, Tan Ky town, Tan Ky district) owned by Mr. Hoang Van Khanh's family. The stolen gold was worth over 700 million VND. At the time of the break-in, Mr. Khanh's family was not present in the house.
Upon receiving the report, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Provincial Police, in coordination with Tan Ky District Police, established Special Case 418V to combat the crime. During the investigation, the special task force identified 12 suspected individuals, including 2 criminals from outside the province.
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| Ngoc Khanh gold shop - the place where Nam broke in to steal property. Photo: Quynh Trang. |
On December 20, 2018, the special task force received information that the Criminal Police Department - Ministry of Public Security and the Criminal Police Department of Lai Chau province had coordinated to arrest Nguyen Van Nam (born in 1987, residing in Xuan Lai commune, Gia Binh district, Bac Ninh province) for the act of stealing property from a gold shop in Lai Chau province.
Through document exchange, the investigation team determined that the modus operandi and criminal activities of suspect Nam had many similarities to the suspect who robbed a gold shop in Tan Ky district, a case the team had already identified. In particular, during the investigation, the Forensic Science Institute (Ministry of Public Security) reported that the results of the forensic examination showed footprints left at the scene. Nam was identified as the suspect in the aforementioned robbery.
On December 22, 2018, the special task force dispatched a team to interrogate Nguyen Van Nam at the T16 Detention Center of the Ministry of Public Security. After a day of interrogation and the coordinated use of various investigative techniques and evidence gathered during the investigation, Nam confessed to the crime and admitted to stealing property from the Ngoc Khanh gold shop in Tan Ky district, Nghe An province.
On the morning of March 28, 2018, Nam took a bus from My Dinh bus station in Hanoi to Vinh City with the intention of finding gold shops to commit crimes. That afternoon, Nam took a bus from Vinh City to Tan Ky town, Tan Ky district. There, he targeted Ngoc Khanh gold shop.
At 11:30 PM the same day, Nam broke into the Ngoc Khanh gold shop and stole 4 trays containing gold rings and bracelets, totaling 2 taels of gold, and 200 silver bracelets.
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| The suspect, Nguyen Van Nam. Photo: Quynh Trang |
At 1:00 AM on March 29, 2018, Nam took a bus to Mong Cai City, Quang Ninh Province, and then crossed the border illegally into Guangdong Province, China, to sell the stolen gold to a Chinese man for 120 million VND. Nam brought the money back to Vietnam for personal use.
According to the police, Nam has one prior conviction and four outstanding arrest warrants for "theft of property" issued by the police departments of Que Vo and Gia Binh districts (Bac Ninh province) and Cam Giang and Nam Sach districts (Hai Duong province).
During the expanded investigation, Nam confessed to having previously successfully carried out four gold thefts in the provinces of Lang Son, Son La, Ha Tinh, and Nghe An, selling the gold for nearly 10 billion VND.
The Criminal Police Department advises that gold and silver businesses, in addition to installing security cameras, should have alarm systems and security guards on duty regularly. When not in operation, assets should be managed in a way that ensures safety and prevents opportunities for intruders to break in and steal them.
