Detectives surround and arrest a young man wanted by the police.

"When the police raided the garden cafe, he tried to run away, but warning shots fired into the air made him hesitate," an officer from the Criminal Police Department (PC02) of the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Provincial Police recounted the arrest of Ngo Xuan Quyen, 29, on warrant.wanted.

Quyen is the only son of the former Deputy Chief of Police of Xuyen Moc District. After finishing 12th grade, he joined the army for compulsory military service. Upon his discharge, the "spoiled rich kid" fell into gambling despite his father and other family members' pleas.

In 2017, Quyen organized a gambling den at a cafe near his home in Phuoc Buu town (Xuyen Moc district) and was arrested, receiving an 8-month prison sentence. After being released from prison, he got married and had children, but he still did not give up his gambling habit.

Ngo Xuan Quyen at the time of his arrest in Kien Giang. Photo: Quang Binh

In late October 2019, Quyen set up a dice gambling den operating from 12 PM to 6 PM daily in a forest within the Binh Chau - Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve. The den was constructed using makeshift tarpaulins amidst dense vegetation. He changed locations daily to avoid detection by the police.

The owner hired a group of henchmen for a daily wage of 300,000-700,000 VND to assist with dice games, act as lookouts, guide players into the casino, and remind them to pay up after each bet. For each win, the casino owner had to pay 50,000 VND as a commission for every million VND won. Gamblers revealed that in some rounds, the stakes ranged from hundreds of millions to one billion VND.

In November of that year, the gambling den was exposed. Quyen and his accomplice Tran Minh Sang (28 years old), along with many others, quickly fled. Meanwhile, more than 20 others were arrested and sentenced to fines ranging from 4 years in prison for various crimes.Gambling organizationandGamble.

"During the more than a year of the manhunt, information about him was inconsistent," the arresting officer said, adding that on January 10th, upon hearing that Quyen and his gang had appeared in the Mekong Delta, a team of detectives immediately set off. After three days and nights of almost sleeplessness, traveling through numerous provinces and cities, the police finally caught up with Quyen's trail.

At 9 PM on January 13th, a taxi carrying Quyen and Sang, along with their luggage, arrived at a spacious garden cafe spanning hundreds of square meters in Vinh Thanh ward (Rach Gia City, Kien Giang province). They went inside to wait for someone to pick them up and continue their escape. However, a few minutes later, detectives surrounded the cafe from all sides and raided the premises, arresting the two fugitives.

Dozens of people playing dice on November 22, 2019 - before being arrested. Photo:Cut from Hắc Minh's video.

According to the investigation, Quyen and Sang did not flee at the same time, but somehow they met and fled together through many provinces and cities. They only stayed at the homes of friends and acquaintances, and constantly changed locations to avoid detection.

The pair often traveled by taxi or were driven by acquaintances throughout their escape, making their capture very difficult.