Trial of inter-district motorbike theft gang

On August 28, the People's Court of Quy Hop district held a public trial of the criminal case against the defendants Le Van Quy (born in 1994, residing in Yen Hop commune, Quy Hop, Nghe An), Nguyen Van Quan (born in 1997, residing in Cam Yen commune, Cam Xuyen, Ha Tinh) for the crime of "theft of property" and Chu Quang Vinh (born in 1985, residing in Thai Hoa town, Nghe An) for the crime of "receiving property obtained by others through crime".

Defendants Vinh, Quy, Quan from left to right. Photo: Phan Giang

According to the indictment, in less than half a month from March 18 to March 29, 2018, this gang committed 4 motorbike thefts in Tho Hop, Yen Hop, Dong Hop and Nghia Xuan communes with a total property value of 62 million VND. This gang was led by Le Van Quy, Quy and Quan are cousins.

Quy and Quan's method of theft was to often wander around the communes in Quy Hop district to probe and find loopholes in people's minds to commit theft by using the pliers they brought with them to break the motorbike locks.

The two subjects removed the license plates and mirrors of all the stolen motorbikes and then took them to Thai Hoa town and asked Chu Quang Vinh to sell them. During those thefts, Nguyen Van Quan acted as a lookout while Quy carried out the theft.

It is known that Le Van Quy was sentenced to 27 months in prison by Nghia Dan District Court in 2014 for “property destruction”. Chu Quang Vinh was sent to compulsory drug rehabilitation at the Nghe An Province Drug Rehabilitation Management Center by Thai Hoa Town Court.

Based on the evidence and documents examined, the panel sentenced defendant Le Van Quy to 2.5 years in prison, defendant Nguyen Van Quan to 2 years in prison for "theft of property" and defendant Chu Quang Vinh to 6 months in prison for "receiving property obtained by another person through criminal acts".