Smuggled tusks seized on Chinese border

Northeastern border Quang Ninh Province's Customs has seized more than one tonne of elephant tusks being transported to China from Mong Cai City.

A Chinese man named Lai Hua Cai was arrested and charged with possession of the ivory on a ferry boat in Ka Long Ward.

Police claim the tusks were cut into 221 pieces and hidden in bags.

Cai said he had been hired by another Chinese man to deliver the tusks.

Cai and the tusks are being held at Mong Cai police station for further investigation.

Hypnosis robbery case just a play: police

Photo: Tuoi Tre

After analyzing the scene, fingerprints, and personal identities of the suspects, the police have arrested the 22-year-old Ngo Quang Truong who is a cousin of Nguyen Thi Thuy, the jewelry shop’s owner.

With the evidences showed at the local police station, Truong, who also lives in Binh Son District, has confessed that he was the one who had acted as the masked robber with hypnosis ability in the case.

According to Colonel Tran Van Sang, the head of the local police department, the play could have been set up by Nguyen Thi Thuy to cheat her creditors so that she could avoid the debts repayment.

The police department of Quang Ngai Province is continuing the investigation to strengthen the allegation.

Nguyen Thi Thuy on Friday claimed that a masked robber hypnotized her and took away gold and cash worth more than US$200,000, but many local experts have affirmed that it is impossible for someone to use hypnosis for robbery purposes.

Vietnam-Russia Technology University to take shape in Hanoi

Vietnam and Russia have approved a project to establish the Vietnam-Russia University of Technology (VRUT) in Hanoi.

A memorandum of understanding was signed in Moscow on October 24 by Vietnamese ambassador to Russia Pham Xuan Son on behalf of Minister of Education and Training, Pham Vu Luan, and Russian Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Sergey Ivanets.

Under the project, Russia will send its lecturers to the VRUT to give lectures in such fields as management, informatics, tunnel construction, electronics, and television and communications. 

Le Quy Don Technical University will also send its lecturers and students to Russia to improve their professional skills.

Visa exemption granted to the Republic of Seychelles

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on October 24 approved visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders from the Republic of Seychelles.

The agreement on visa exemption between the two countries was signed in Hanoi on July 21, 2011.

PM Dung asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to complete necessary work with related agencies so that the agreement will take effect as soon as possible.

Ivory seized in China-Vietnam border: report

Customs in the northern city of Mong Cai bordering China on Sunday said they had confiscated over one ton of ivory hidden in a shipment, Dan Tri newswire reported. 

Officials on October 22 found 221 tusks weighing 1,061kg in total concealed among bags of rolls of fabric in a boat traveling down a river in Ka Long Ward driven by Lai Hoa Tai, a Chinese national.

Tai told the local customs that another Chinese man named Vuong Ba Kien had hired him to transport the ivory from Mong Cai to China.

Tai has been detained for questioning.

Last month, the police in the central province of Nghe An have caught 3 men and confiscated 209 kg of ivory that they had smuggled into Vietnam.

In May, 2011, customs officers in the northern city of Hai Phong seized 2 tons of ivory that arrived from Kenya in two containers labeled as dried seaweed and set to be re-exported to China.

Two weeks later, Hai Phong’s customs continued to confiscate more 22 tons of ivory smuggled in from Malaysia in a container purported to have red algae.

In 2009, Vietnam authorities confiscated nearly 7 tons of elephant tusks smuggled from Tanzania in the country's biggest ivory seizure.

Female security guard arrested for robbery

A 51-year-old woman who is deputy head of a branch of Tay Cuu Long Security Guard Company in Can Tho City has been arrested for drugging men to rob about VND150 million (US$7,200).

Nguyen Thi Be, aka Phuong, of An Nghiep Ward, Ninh Kieu District, was arrested last Saturday and would be prosecuted for robbery, the local police said.

According to the police’s initial investigation, Be often rode a motorbike to crowded areas like hospitals, bus stations and markets to hunt for “preys,” mostly men who were over 50.
After getting acquainted with a man, she incited him to have sex with her at a hotel.

While they were staying in a hotel room, she secretly put anesthetics into a cup of coffee or a glass of beer and then invited him to drink. After the man was unconscious, she took his assets and escaped.

After receiving many reports from the female robber’s victims, the police launched an investigation to track down her.

Last Saturday, following a tip-off from the public, the social crime investigation police raided a room in a hotel in An Khanh Ward and caught Be in the act of drugging a man to rob his assets.

The victim, N.V.N., 56, from Hau Giang Province was found in a coma in the room.

The police arrested Be and confiscated from her VND2.2 million, 10 jewelry items, 4 mobile phones, 2 jars containing 45 anesthetic tablets, an electric baton, and some other tools.

Be confessed that she had used an extremely powerful anesthetics drug to poison her victims rapidly to rob their assets.

Since 2009 until her arrest, she had carried out about 20 robberies in Can Tho and some neighboring localities, appropriating at least VND150 million from her victims, she said.

In last May, a similar case was tried by the Can Tho People’s Court that sentenced four women for drugging men to rob their assets.

The convicts are Nghiem Xuan Thao Ly, 43, from Hau Giang Province; Le Nguyen Ngoc Ha, 40, from Kien Giang; Nguyen Thi Tu, 59, from Can Tho; and Ngo Thi Tuyet Huong, 49, also from Can Tho.

Ly was given four sentences totalling 30 years in prison, while her three accomplices got 17-28 years each for the same charge.

Bus crew sacked for hitting, humiliating passenger

The driver of a Hanoi public transport bus and his assistant who assaulted and humiliated a passenger last Saturday have been dismissed.

Nguyen Huu Hong, director of the Hanoi Tramcar Enterprise, the bus operator, announced the dismissal yesterday of Do Huu Long, the driver, and Nguyen Chi Thanh following a meeting with transport officials.

The incident occurred Saturday afternoon when Nguyen Ngoc Phuc of Vinh Phuc Province boarded a bus at the My Dinh Station to go to Le Van Luong Street.

Before getting on, he asked Thanh if the bus went by that street and was told it did. But other passengers told him that was not true.

Phuc then asked Long to stop so that he could get off and take another bus, but he refused and, along with Thanh, swore at him.

When the bus reached the Ngoc Khanh-Kim Ma crossroads, Long stopped the vehicle and he and Thanh began to assault Phuc. They told Phuc to kneel in front of them if he wanted to get off the bus.

When Phuc refused, they continued to hit him and said he had to stay on the bus until the bus reached Gia Lam District, the bus’ final destination.

The other passengers became angry and demanded that Long and Thanh let the young man get off. Long finally relented and dropped off Phuc on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street.

Phan Thi Tam of Cau Giay District, one of the passengers, told newswire VnExpress that she had told Long and Thanh several times not to assault Phuc but they had ignored her.

The Ministry of Transport’s chief inspector, Nguyen Xuan Hao, called on the Hanoi Department of Transport’s Inspectorate to convene a meeting of all related authorities to consider further action against the driver such as revoking his license and criminal prosecution.

“We will recommend to the police that Long and Thanh be prosecuted if they are found to have committed the crime,” Hoang Van Manh, deputy chief inspector of the Hanoi Department of Transport, told Tien Phong newspaper.

Nguyen Hoang Linh, director of the transport department, said not only Long and Thanh but also their company would be punished.

Experts disclaim hypnotism in robbery case

Many local experts have affirmed that it is impossible for someone to use hypnosis for robbery purposes after a jewelry shop owner claimed that a masked robber hypnotized her and took away gold and cash worth more than US$200,000.

According to Colonel Mai Van Tan, chief of Ho Chi Minh City’s Investigation Police Department, there have been no reports of cases about the use of hypnosis in the city.

“We used to handle some cases in which victims claimed that they became unconscious and gave all their money and jewelries to robbers after hearing a few words. But investigations later found that it was not true,” Tan said.

For example, a victim declared that he gave billions of dong to an unknown man.

But in fact, the unidentified swindler had convinced him to jointly participate in black brass and meteorite trade.

Meanwhile, Du Quang Chau, Du Quang Chau, Director of the Radiesthesia Research and Application Center at HCMC-based Hong Bang International University, said that no one could be hypnotized if they didn’t want to be hypnotized.

According to Chau, hypnotism is state of a dream in which people are completely in full possession of their senses.

It’s untrue that people who are hypnotized will act at hypnotists’ requests.

A person cannot be hypnotized against their will. Hypnosis is possible only if there is cooperation between the hypnotist and the subject.

Agreeing with Chau, a prosecutor of the HCMC People’s Procuracy, told Tuoi Tre that the case in which the robber used hypnosis to rob a jewelry shop owner lacks scientific evidence.

He said many circumstances in this case needed to be verified. Chau said that there were no reports of robberies in which the victims voluntarily gave the robbers all their money and property.

However, he admitted that some robbers have put a kind of anesthetic drug into the victims’ drink and food or spray it on them and then rob them.

Last Friday, a rare incident occurred at a gold shop in the central province of Quang Ngai when shop owner Nguyen Thi Thuy voluntarily gave around 100 taels of gold and other cash worth more than $200,000 to a masked robber.

After willingly giving away the valuables, Thuy fainted.

Thuy later said the robber came to her shop to purchase half a tael of goal and paid for it.

But she was then delirious and put around 100 taels of gold into a bag and took another VND1 billion of cash from her strongbox and gave it to him.

Giant water monitor offered for $2,000

Le Quang Vu from Ca Mau city offered to sell 43-kg water monitor for VND40 million (US$2000) at the Trade, Agriculture and Fishery Fair held in Can Tho City on October 18-24.

Vu said when he bought the water monitor at U Minh Forest as a pet, it was only 20 kg.
Over the past 7 years, it has gained 23 kg more and become 2 m long.

Vu said he asked for such a high price because of the animal’s weight and gall which can cure various diseases.

Vu said though water monitors are protected species, he had been issued a license to sell it.

Le Van Hai, deputy head of the Ca Mau Province's Forest Management Department, said anyone who would buy Vu’s water monitor would need to change Vu’s adoption permit to a transporting permit.

Circus elephant dies of exhaustion

A 70-year-old elephant died last Tuesday due to hunger and cold weather while it was on the way to perform circus in the central province of Quang Nam.

The body of the 4-ton elephant has been destroyed and the place where it died has been sterilized, said Nguyen Van Ngu, chairman of People’s Committee of Thang Binh District.

The elephant, named Ho Nun, came from the Don village in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak and was hired by the animal circus troupe Hoang Nam.

The circus troupe brought Ho Nun and other animals to Binh Tri Commune in Quang Nam for performances on October 15.

However, because of continuous rain in the past days, the troupe couldn’t perform as scheduled.

Truong Van Nam, head of the troupe, said Ho Nun died on October 20 and had shown signs of slowness, tiredness, and anorexia before its death.

Nguyen Van Dien, chairman of Binh Tri Commune’s People’s Committee, said some days ago, local residents found the troupe using a crane to carry the dead elephant body.

Following their tip-offs, local authorities arrived at the scene and asked them to destroy the body in line with environmental rules and local customs and practices.

An examination by the province’s veterinary agency concluded that because of old age, the elephant couldn’t get used to being transported in barren and cramped cages for long time.

When it arrived in Quang Nam, it also suffered from cold weather and a shortage of food.

Elephants in Vietnam have long been threatened by poachers who kill them for tusks and cut off their tails for hair to make jewelries, particularly rings, to sell them to tourists because elephant hair is believed to bring good luck.

On the other hand, circus elephants have raised concerns in recent years because of their aggressive acts.

Last Sunday, an 11-year-old girl in the northern province of Lao Cai was crushed to death when she was feeding a circus elephant nicknamed Na owned by the Vietnam Circus Federation.

In April 2010, another circus elephant grabbed a 13-year-old boy with his trunk and slammed him twice on the ground after he and some friends allegedly enraged it by pulling its tail and throwing stones at it.

These acts are thought to be the result of the long captivity, harsh treatment, and abuse that circus elephants have been suffering.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre