The seven accused are locked up at a local police agency - PHOTO: NLD

They are Nguyen Quoc Dung, former officer of the HCMC Police Department, and Nguyen Anh Tuan, who previously worked as a ward-level police officer, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement on July 13.

The victim was identified as Le Duc Ng., aged 32, a resident of Binh Dinh Province.

The police had previously arrested seven suspects aged 24 to 37 years, for their involvement in the staged abduction and robbery. They comprise Ho Ngoc Tai and Tran Ngoc Hoang, both from Danang City, Nguyen Van Duc from the Central Highlands province of Daklak, Trinh Tuan Anh, Bui Quang Chung and Truong Chi Hai from HCMC and Mai Xuan Phot from Quang Nam Province.

The police also discovered that three other city officers were connected to the robbery.

The police revealed that Ng. had lured many people from various provinces and cities to invest in cryptocurrency. After scores of investors suffered huge losses due to the failing cryptocurrency, Ng. could not be contacted.

The accused, who are reportedly to have incurred big losses in the cryptocurrency business, made efforts to find Ng. but failed.

Dung and Tuan were then requested to join the seven accused to get the money back from Ng.

On May 18, they staged a car crash on the expressway section passing through Dong Nai Province to kidnap Ng. and his family, who were travelling back home from Dalat in Lam Dong Province.

After abducting him, they used a gun and needles to force his family to provide his account password and stole cryptocurrency worth VND35 billion.

They also sought to extort US$9.5 million from his relatives but failed.

According to investigators, although Ng. was a victim of the crime, many people have sued him for alleged asset misappropriation through the cryptocurrency business. SGT