The Binh Thuan Police, in co-ordination with the Soc Trang Police, on July 10 transferred a 49-year-old man to southern province of Binh Thuan for further investigation after he escaped 21 years ago.

Nguyen Huy Cuong.

Nguyen Huy Cuong in 1988 was sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment for robbery.

While being kept at the prison, Cuong made friend with Nguyen Van Hen, from the southern province of Soc Trang. Cuong and Hen escaped from the prison and then used guns to rob from a number of local residents.

Cuong was caught again and sentenced to seven more years of imprisonment.

In 1995 he once again escaped from prison.

Cuong went to the southern province of Soc Trang and changed his name to Nguyen Hung and then Nguyen Trường Giang and continued to conduct robberies.

In 1997 the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Police asked the public for information about a victim of a murder. The victim had the same name and characteristics as Cuong, so everyone believed that Cuong had died. His family set up an altar for him and held a death anniversary for him each year.

But this year, after a long investigation, the Soc Trang Police discovered that Nguyen Hung was Nguyen Huy Cuong.

Cuong proved to be quite intelligent to have run away for such a long time, but in the end, he could not escape the police and the law. If only he completed his sentence from the start, he wouldn’t have wasted so much time.

VNS