Eliminate a group of people stealing donation money from pagodas and churches in Nam Dan

Consecutively from August 25 to 28, 2022, Nam Dan District Police received reports of theft at a number of pagodas and churches such as Duc Son Pagoda, in Nam Bac Thung block, Nam Dan town, Nam Dan district; the church of Thuong Nam parish, Hong Long commune, Nam Dan district; Van Loc parish church, in Dai Loc hamlet, Thuong Tan Loc commune, Nam Dan district; Quy Chinh church, in Quy Chinh block, Nam Dan town, Nam Dan district, where thieves broke in and stole money from the safe (donation box). The total amount of money stolen at the four locations above is about 20 million VND.

In particular, at the church of Thuong Nam parish, the subject stole the safe (donation box) placed in the church. Then he took it to the bank of Lam river in Quang Trung block, Nam Dan town, Nam Dan district to break the safe, took all the money inside and then threw the safe near the river bank.

Immediately after receiving the report, Nam Dan District Police urgently carried out the work of protecting and examining the scene, collecting traces, documents and evidence, and organizing investigation verification. Realizing that the acts of the property thieves in the 4 cases mentioned above had the same methods and tricks and caused bad public opinion. Nam Dan District Police established a special project with code number 822T to mobilize forces and means, and synchronously used professional measures to fight, clarify, arrest and handle the subjects according to the provisions of law.

03 subjects were arrested with evidence in the case. Photo: Manh Cuong

After establishing the project, Nam Dan District Police used many professional measures, and detectives determined that the subjects were local people. Opening each trace and the subject's whereabouts, at 6:00 p.m. on September 4, 2022, Nam Dan District Police successfully broke the 822T project, investigating and clarifying that 3 subjects, all born in 2007, committed the property thefts: Tran Van Dan, Tran Hai Dang, residing in Nam Dan town, Nam Dan district; Phan Van Thinh, residing in Thuong Tan Loc commune, Nam Dan district.

At the police station, the suspects confessed that they took advantage of the darkness of the night when there was no one watching the churches and pagodas.break inand used iron pliers to break the lock, 01 flashlight for lighting and 01 iron hook made from a clothes hanger to hook money from the safe. The stolen money was spent by the subjects for personal purposes.

Continuing to expand the investigation, the subjects confessed that, in addition to the 4 property thefts mentioned above, from the beginning of July to mid-August 2022, with similar methods, the subjects also committed 8 other property thefts at the following locations: Van Loc Parish Church, Dai Loc Hamlet, Thuong Tan Loc Commune, Nam Dan District; Dan Nhiem Church, Phan Boi Chau Block, Nam Dan Town, Nam Dan District; Duc Son Pagoda, Nam Bac Thung Block, Nam Dan Town, Nam Dan District; Quy Chinh Church, Quy Chinh Block, Nam Dan Town, Nam Dan District; Phan Boi Chau Relic Site, Phan Boi Chau Block, Nam Dan Town, Nam Dan District, with a total amount of more than 10 million VND.

Currently, Nam Dan District Police are continuing to expand the investigation, recover evidence of the cases and consolidate evidence and documents to handle the subjects according to the provisions of law.