Five die from toxic fumes in illegal mine

Four miners and one rescue worker have been killed in an illegal gold mine in northern Cao Bang Province's Nguyen Binh District, the District People's Committee said yesterday, Dec 29.

Thang Trong Dung, head of the committee's Administration Department, said poisonous gas was the likely cause of the deaths.

The bodies of the miners have yet to be recovered.

It is thought 10 miners were illegally working at the site.

Robbers throw $72,000 money bag into stream

Bao (L) and the money he and Sy stole.  (Photo: VNE)

Children get free entry to historical sites

Children under 15 years of age will now be allowed to visit famous landscapes and historical monuments in Ha Noi free of charge, according to the city People's Committee.

Members of the Veterans Association, patriotic groups connected with the former notorious Hoa Lo French prison and people on social welfare will be offered free visit to the prison also.

Million-dollar civil servant gamblers suspended

On Wednesday, Dec 28, the Soc Trang Province People’s Committee suspended two senior transport officials caught playing Chinese chess for astronomical stakes: the loser had to pay VND1-5 billion (US$47,600-238,000) per game.

Nguyen Van Leo, deputy director of the Soc Trang Province’s Department of Transport and Tran Van Tan, director of a drivers’ training center, were seized on December 22 when they were playing a game of Chinese chess at a café in Soc Trang.

Tan has also been suspended from his membership in the Communist Party.

By the time police detained Leo and Tan, the former had lost as much as VND22 billion ($1.05 million) to the latter but he paid just VND5 billion.

Gambling for money is illegal in Vietnam except for some casinos where only foreigners are allowed.

Colonel Phan Huu Thuy, spokesman of the Soc Trang Province Police Department, yesterday said the department has not yet indicted the two men since their testimonies were contradictory.

Police are expanding investigation to clarify all the offenses before indicting them, Thuy said.

Meanwhile, police have detained two others, Nguyen Thanh Hung, 50, and his son Nguyen Thanh Truyen, who had been hired by Tan to force Leo to pay his debt and threaten to kill all his family if he fails to do so.

Hung was a loan-shark and a leading gambling broker in Soc Trang, Thuy added.

After being threatened, Leo reported to the police who later seized both of them last week.

According to local authorities, Leo had been head of the Soc Trang City Board of management of Construction Work and secretary of the Ward 6 Party Committee for many years before he was appointed to the current post.

Leo has recently borrowed money from a lot of individuals and organizations.

Meanwhile, Tan is the owner of many large cafés and eateries in the city.

Le Thanh Quan, deputy secretary of the province committee, told Tuoi Tre if the two officials are found guilty, they will be given harsh punishments because all citizens are equal under the law.

More bodies found from boat mishap

The last four bodies of soldiers from Battalion 70 who drowned in icy seas last Sunday were found yesterday, Dec 29, about four kilometres off the Cua Dai coast.

The soldiers, were from Hoi An City. Dien Ban, Nui Thanh and Thang Binh districts, were among a group returning from an island off the coast.

Provincial military headquarters will hold memorial services for them.

Indebted gambler loses finger to Cambodian casino

18-year-old Nguyen Huu Tinh, from Tan Hung District, Long An Province, reported to police yesterday that a casino in Cambodia had captured him and then cut off one of his fingers after he lost US$3,000 there and his relative in Vietnam failed to repay as quickly as required by the casino.

He said the casino, named “Ba Quach” (“Mrs. Quach”), sent his finger to his mother on December 14 to urge her to pay his debt soon.

Vo Thi Biet, Tinh’s mother, told the police that on that day, a young man came to her house and handed her a black bag and four letters from Tinh, and asked her to quickly bring VND73 million (US$3,500) to Cambodia to pay off her son’s debt.

Biet, head of the health center in Vinh Thanh Commune, said she panicked upon seeing Tinh’s finger in the bag.

On December 19, Biet and her brother brought the money to the casino and took Tinh back, she told the police.

Tinh said he had been captured along with about 20 others, all of whom had either ears or fingers cut off and sent by the casino to their relatives in Vietnam as a warning.

Tinh said that a few underworld people at the casino threatened that they would kill the debtors and disembowel them in order to sell their organs if their relatives failed to repay their debts soon.

The province’s social crime investigation police department is investigating the case.

Beef of unknown origin seized

Ha Noi Market Watch seized more than 23 tonnes of beef of unknown origin in Yen So Ward in Hoang Mai District on Wednesday.

Those in charge of the meat presented quarantine certificates for 10 tonnes, but the remaining meat had no such papers. City authorities have not yet authenticated the certificates.

The driver of the container in which most of the meat was found said he had been hired to transport the food from Ha Noi to the southern province of Binh Duong.

HCM City charity walk to aid poor

Participants in the Seventh Lawrence S. Ting Charity Walk have donated VND2.3 billion (US$109,000) to help poor people in HCM City celebrate Tet (Lunar New Year) in late January.

Some 13,000 people have registered to take part in the walk to be held in the Phu My Hung New Urban Area in District 7 on January 7.

The donations will be transferred to the "Funds for Poor People" in Districts 7, 8, Nha Be, and Binh Chanh; HCM City Television's Fund for Common Charity Activities; and the HCM City Fund for Sponsoring Sport Talents.

Organised by the Taiwanese-owned Phu My Hung Co every year since 2006, the Lawrence S. Ting Charity Walk has so far attracted over 84,000 walkers and collected VND9 billion ($428,000).

Pilot dies during treatment in Singapore

Another pilot working for Vietnam Airlines has died during treatment in Singapore just a week after his colleague suffered an unexpected death in a hotel in Paris.

The American pilot had worked for VNA for two months and had been assigned to fly Airbus 320, a source said.

According to VNA, on December 14, due to some health problems, the 55-year-old pilot asked for leave to get treatment in Singapore where he passed away.

VNA hasn’t released the name of the pilot.

On December 8, 52-year-old Nghiem Dinh Tuan of Vietnamese nationality, a deputy chief pilot at Vietnam Airlines who flew Boeing 777s, was found dead at Novotel Hotel in Paris, France.

VNA said after arriving in Paris from Ho Chi Minh City, the aircrew went to the hotel, which is commonly used by VNA flight crews, to rest before their next flight.

However, after exercising, Tuan said he felt ill and went back to his room. On the following morning, the crew found him dead when they went to wake him up.

According to some sources, his sudden death was caused by a stroke.

Thieves steal gun from police officer

On the afternoon of December 27, when nobody was home, thieves broke into the house of Nguyen Van Sang, vice police chief of Cai Rang District in Can Tho Mekong Delta Province, to steal a rubber bullet gun, although there were two motorbikes and other valuable assets inside.

However, later that afternoon, four people came back to his house, knocked on the door, put the gun in the courtyard, and then left.

Lieutenant Colonel Bui The Bang, head of the district’s police Department of Criminal Investigation in Social Order, said on Thursday that the police are hunting for the culprits.

This is not the first recent case in which police officials have been targeted by thieves.

On December 25, thieves burglarized the house of Major-General Vu Hung Vuong, Deputy Head of the General Department for Crime Prevention under the Ministry of Public Security, and stole assets worth around VND1 billion (US$47,585).

The police said the criminals took VND550 million in cash, 21 taels of gold, US$500, AUS500, KRW (South Korean won) 40,000, a silver necklace, a watch, a knife, and a pair of scissors.

Robbers stab and steal in Nha Trang pawnshop

A group of young men suddenly dashed into a pawnshop, stabbed people there and took away their phones and cash last Tuesday evening in Phuoc Dong commune, Nha Trang city in the coastal province of Khanh Hoa.

According to Vo Dinh Toan (34), owner at the pawnshop, he and the other five people were drinking tea in his house’s yard at 10.30pm when six men around 20-25 years old carrying knives, swords and rods rushed in and started to attack them.

The group stabbed Tran Huu Lang (55) once on his left hand and three times in the back. They also injured Nguyen Hong Son (16) on his feet and leg. The other two were slightly injured.

The group then broke two glass display cases and took away eight mobile phones. They also robbed two other phones from customers, VND8 million (US$400) in cash from Toan’s family and broke parts of two bike in front of the house, plastic chair and stools.

Toan said he could identify two men in the group, who came to his store to pawn their wares a day before.

Lieutenant colonel Nguyen Hong Ky, deputy head of the Nha Trang city police said they will cooperate with commune police to investigate and trace down those involved.

Five foreigners arrested for swindling

Police in Ho Chi Minh City have detained four Chinese and a Taiwanese national who used hi-tech facilities to defraud others of their bank deposits in many countries.

Yesterday morning, police raided a house in the My Khanh 2 apartment building in District 7 and caught Wang Xi, 22, Zhou Yong Shang, 31, and Fu Yu Sheng, 29, using hi-tech electronics to swindle their victims.

From their testimonies, the police later arrested the ringleader, Liu Kuei Han, 33, and another culprit, Hsu Hsuan Yu, 27, in another location.

The police seized four computers, a CPU, a monitor, eight walkie-talkies, five mobile phones, and numerous other pieces of electronic equipment from the group.

The foreigners said that after arriving in Vietnam in October 2011 they used hi-tech telecom equipment and the Internet to the steal bank account numbers of many citizens in different countries and territories.

They later contacted their victims, claiming to be officials from banks, prosecutor’s offices or courts in the victims’ countries, and informed the accounts holders that their deposits had been used secretly by criminals for illegal purposes.

They then persuaded the victims to transfer their deposits to a bank account designated by them for safety.

They falsely told their victims that the account was controlled by relevant authorities.

Many people, for fear of losing their deposits, followed the swindlers’ advice, and after their money was put in that account, the ring would withdraw all of it.

The swindlers confessed that they had appropriated 200,000 yuan (US$31,650) from their victims.

The police are continuing their investigation.

VNN/VNS/Tuoi Tre