Drug smuggler caught after 18 years as fugitive

Authorities in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang yesterday, April 24, handed over a drug smuggler who has been wanted for 18 years to the Ministry of Public Securities' Investigation Agency for handling.

Nguyen Van Hoa, arrested last Saturday, has been wanted for illegally transporting and smuggling drugs by police of the northern province of Yen Bai since 1994, and by the Investigation Agency since 2006.

According to police, Hoa was an important part of interprovincial drug trafficking cases in the 1990s.

Man dies in air compressor pump blast

The scene of the explosion that killed a 49-year-old man in HCMC's Phu Nhuan District on Monday. (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

The blast occurred at 1:30 pm when Phung Nhat Luan was sitting on the pavement at a coffee shop next to the repair shop located at 174/1 Dang Van Ngu, Ward 14.

Luan was killed on the spot when the lid of the exploded compressor flew off and hit his head.

Meanwhile, the air tank of the machine was thrown several meters away from the shop.

At the time of incident, the owner of the repair shop was absent from the facility while the air compressor was being connected to an electric source to compress air into the tank, local witnesses said. 

Police were called to the scene and the ill-fated man’s body was later transported to a mortuary for autopsy.

The police kept the exploded compressor, which is 1 meter long and 50 cm in diameter, for investigation of the cause of the explosion.

The compressor pump was old, stained and rusty, police said, adding that it is widely used by vehicle repairers to inflate bike tires.

The Can Tho City People’s Court yesterday announced that Lam Van Sau, a local farmer, won the lawsuit against a decision by the People’s Committee to re-possess his land.

On August 5, 2009 chairman of the city’s committee signed Decision No. 2337 to reclaim nearly 2,200 square meters of his agricultural land for the construction of National Highway 91B, saying that his land was located in the highway area under the State’s management.

According to the decision, the authorities would provide Sau with “supportive assistance” equal to 30 percent of the land’s value.

The farmer, who resides in Long Tuyen Ward, Binh Thuy District, objected to the decision, demanding that the authorities pay him full compensation in accordance to relevant regulations since he has enough papers to prove his land rights.

However, the authorities stood firmly by their decision, leading to Sau’s filing a complaint to the court.

At court, the farmer’s lawyer produced enough evidence to prove Sau was the legal user of the land under the Law on Land and other relevant regulations.

After considering all the details of the case, the court requested the chairman of the city People’s Committee to pay full compensation to Sau in accordance to prevailing regulations.

The fact that the authorities have reclaimed the land without offering compensation to him has deprived him of his legitimate rights and interest, the court said.

Former Foodstuff director arrested

Police have charged and detained former Northern Foodstuff Company director Le Van Bang, 58, for allegedly violating State regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences.

Bang of Ha Noi's Hoan Kiem district is also a former deputy general director of the Viet Nam National Tobacco Corporation (Vinataba).

Police under the Ministry of Public Security said that as director of Northern Foodstuff in 2007, Bang colluded with Nguyen Khac Tung, 47, director of the Ha Noi-based Tung Duong Private Company, and Le Van Duc, 47, branch director of An Phuc Company, to draw up several purchase contracts between Northern Foodstuff and Tung Duong companies.

Police allege the purchase contracts for corn seed worth VND16 billion (US$762,000) were fraudulent.

Police also detained Tung and Duc on charges of fraudulent appropriation of property.

Border police are investigating heroin trafficking through the Mong Cai international border gate in the northern province of Quang Ninh following the arrest of an alleged drug courier last week.

The Border Guard Drug Smuggling Prevention Department said on April 23 that Chinese national Chen Wen Bo, 25, was arrested and charged with trafficking 10.5kg of heroin powder in 10 metal boxes across the border to China.

Chen confessed that he had been engaged as a courier to smuggle packages from Vietnam to China by a foreigner named "Kris" who was now living in China.

He denied knowing the packages contained heroin.

Chen said he had been to Vietnam three times after phone calls, met three different women in Hanoi and received packages.

He also said he had also transported packages to Laos and Malaysia.

Doctors identify mysterious killer

Fourteen out of 26 blood samples from patients with a mysterious skin disease in the central province of Quang Ngai have tested positive for the rickettsia virus which is transferred from animals to people by lice or fleas.

Pham Hong Duong, director of the Quang Ngai provincial health department, said on April 14 that so far, the disease has affected 172 people and killed 19 in rural communes.

The department has asked the province to provide medical stations with blood filters and necessary medications to treat affected patients in a timely manner.

The World Health Organisation has also said that it is ready to support the Vietnamese Government in controlling the disease, although it has not yet received any requests for support from the Ministry of Health.

The situation has become more serious since the disease was first noticed last year. Despite the participation of several agencies, no headway has been made in fighting the disease. Local health officials fear they will not be able to control the epidemic without the support of foreign agencies.

The initial symptoms of the illness are high fever, loss of appetite and a rash on the palms and feet. If it is not treated early, the disease can affect the respiratory system, causing eye and liver problems, miscarriages and multiple organ failure, local doctors have said.

Former boss of Vietnam state tobacco firm detained

A former deputy CEO of the state-run Vietnam National Tobacco Corporation (Vinataba) has been detained for “deliberately violating state regulations on economic management, causing serious consequences.”

58-year-old Le Van Bang was alleged to have colluded with Le Van Duc and Nguyen Khac Tung, both 47, to fake contracts and signatures to appropriate state assets.

Tung, director of private-owned Tung Duong Co, and Duc, director of the Hanoi branch of An Phuc Co Ltd, have also been held in custody for “fraudulent acts committed to appropriate assets.”

The three are accused of forging contracts between Tung Duong Co and Vietnam Northern Food Corporation (VNFC), of which Bang is the former director, to embezzle more than VND16.7 billion (US$801,600) from the state in October 2007, investigators said.

Bang and Tung signed a fake contract in which Tung Duong Co sold 2,000 tons of corn worth more than VND8 billion to VNFC.

After receiving payment from Bang, Tung transferred VND7.5 billion to Duc, Bang’s younger brother.

Using a similar scheme, Bang and Tung went on to appropriate another VND8.1 billion in November, 2007.

The three were detained for further investigation, police said.

Father and son jailed for raping same minor girl

The Binh Phuoc Province People’s Court yesterday opened a trial against 61-year-old Nguyen Van Minh and his son, Nguyen Trung Trung, 34, for raping a minor girl many times, leading to her pregnancy.

Minh and his son were sentenced to 24 and 13 years imprisonment, respectively, on charges of raping minors, the court said.

The victim was 16-year-old N.T.N.G., of Thuan Loi Commune, Dong Phu District, who lived next door to the two defendants.

According to the indictment from the local prosecutor’s office, Minh began sexually harassing G. in late 2005, when the girl was just 9 years old, during her visits to his house.

His harassments continued until April 2010, when Minh began luring G. to a garden of a neighbor and raped her there. After every rape, which he committed at an interval of 5-10 days, Minh gave the girl VND30,000-120,000 (US$5.8).

Trung’s wife, Pham Thi Soan, once caught Minh in the act and recounted what she saw to her husband. Trung then forced G. to have sex with him many times by threatening he would tell her parents about her sexual relation with Minh.

In September 2010, teachers at Thuan Loi Junior High School, where G was studying, noticed her symptoms of pregnancy. They then took the girl to a clinic for examination and doctors later confirmed that she was pregnant.

When informed of the case, the girl’s parents reported Minh’s and his son’s crime to police, who detained the two men for investigation.

On January 9, 2011, G. gave birth to a baby boy and two months later, the results of DNA tests showed Minh to be the father of the baby.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre