Four arrested for using ‘hypnosis’ to rob girl

Four gang members were caught red-handed for alledgedly using ‘hypnosis’ to rob jewelries from a 17-year-old girl this morning, according to police in Binh Duong southern province.

They are Nguyen Van Dai, 33, Bui Thi Thu (Dai’s wife), 29, Nguyen Da Trach, 30, and Nguyen Thi Ha (Trach’s wife), 29, all hailing from Hanoi.

Earlier, Thu and Ha pretended to be employees of a supermarket, which is launching promotional program “Buy goods to win prizes”, to approach Nguyen Ngoc My.

My agreed to purchase goods and was told that she won a camera as a prize.

However, they then asked her to donate VND500,000 for supporting dioxin victims but My refused.

They later required her to leave her jewelries instead.

After a while, My felt dizzy and the gang robbed her property.

However, they were arrested by Binh Duong police.

According to initial judges, they are much likely to use narcotic to defraud people.

Fire kills 4 Vietnamese in Russian clothing factory

Six persons including four Vietnamese nationals and two Russians were killed when a fire broke out from a Vietnamese-run clothing factory at Cherkizovo market in Russian capital of Moscow early morning.

Vietnamese embassy in Russia has sent staff to the spot to give timely assistance to the Vietnamese victims.

Earlier, around 5:00 a.m. on March 10, a big blaze swept through a Vietnamese-owned clothing factory located at Ivanchevka town of Moscow, claiming five Vietnamese lives.

Local police are vigorously investigating the main cause of the incident.

US enhances cooperation in education with Vietnam

The Obama administration is interested in boosting cooperation with Vietnam, especially in education, said US Under-Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sanchez.

The US believes it will make have positive contributions to the development of Vietnam’s education, he said at a press briefing in Hanoi Thursday.

He informed that this was the first time that the US Department of Commerce led a mission with representatives from 56 universities, colleges and English-language institutes to a number of countries and Vietnam was the mission’s second stop.

Sanchez said he believed that the education mission will open up more cooperation between both countries’ educational institutions and more and more Vietnamese people will study in the US .

Sanchez’s visit, which coincides with the 15th anniversary of establishment of the US Trade Office in Vietnam, affirms the importance of bilateral relations.

The mission is scheduled to have working sessions with key officials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Information and Communications in order to boost trade exchange between the two countries, especially in intellectual property.

Sanchez encouraged Vietnamese companies to take part in meetings on small- and medium-sized enterprises within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum scheduled for Big Sky, Montana from May 13-21.

During the visit, the US Trade Office coordinates with the International Institute on Education (IIE) to organize education fairs in Ho Chi Minh City on April 6 and in Hanoi two days later.

Fire at bank in downtown HCMC

At 11 p.m. yesterday, many residents in the Ho Chi Minh’s central area panicked when witnessing a fire breaking out from Petrolimex Group Commercial JS Bank (PG Bank)’s Saigon branch on Le Duan Street.

Immediately after being informed, the district’s Fire Prevention and Control Police Department sent 7 fire-trucks to the scene.

The fire was put out at 11:25 pm after burning down 2 business counters, 10 computers, and many documents at the ground floor of the bank.

One of the security guards present at the scene said the fire was caused by an electrical device on a business counter which then spread to another counter.

The police are investigating, said Captain Tran Van Van, head of the department.

Thieving maid hides 20 taels of gold in dustbin

After a week-long investigation, Hanoi police arrested a housemaid who stole jewelry items equivalent to 20 taels of gold from her boss.

Those taels are worth VND700 million or about US$33,500, which was recovered by the police.

Last Sunday, April 3, while the family of her employer was sleeping, Nguyen Thi Hue pried open a chest, took out jewelry items, put them into a plastic bag and then hid it in a dustbin.

Hue later took the dustbin to a dumping ground nearby where she secretly handed the bag of jewelry to a relative of hers who was waiting there.

After discovering the loss, Hue’s employer reported to Hoan Kiem district police, who immediately launched an investigation and then focused suspicion on the domestic help.

After being repeatedly questioned, Hue eventually pleaded guilty.

Hue, 44, from central Vinh Phuc province, said she was a domestic help for her boss for a few years in the past before quitting her job there. On April 1 she asked the boss to employ her again.

The police said they would prosecute Hue for theft.

Theft and robbery plaguing students

Theft and robbery occur regularly everywhere and these crimes have not been effectively addressed. Thieves and robbers work hard at their jobs and usually do not miss any opportunity that can help fatten their pocket. Their long list of victims now includes even students, who mostly come from rural areas and are not wealthy.

Lam Van Tien, a student of the University of Technical Education in Nam Dinh Province, said he worked part-time after class and was given a bicycle as a gift by his employer. The bike was not new but was a very convenient means for him to go to university or to the workplace.

Recently, Tien left his bike outside a tailor’s shop and stepped in to look for some kind of garments. Less than a minute later, he came out and saw a thief riding his bike away. As he could not run after the thief, he just stood there looking at his bike wistfully and walked home.

For Nguyen Thi Hong, a student from the same university, the loss was more dramatic -- and more devastating. One evening, she left her computer class and walked back to her rented room, carrying a bag with a laptop inside. Suddenly, two men on a motorbike came charging at her, snatched her bag and rode off. She just stood there, looking after them, speechless and motionless.

Tien and Hong are just two among many students who have been victimized by daylight theft and robbery.

Often, theft happens at lodging houses for students near universities and colleges. Many students try to deal with this by renting rooms at higher-than-usual prices, thinking it is safer to live with the house owners. However, home owners or no home owners around, the thieves spare no one.

Pham Huu Son, a student of the Radio-Television Broadcasting College in Ha Nam Province, said, “I live in a room next to the proprietor’s house and we use the same gate to get in and out, but that has not kept me from losing two mobile phones within one month.”

Although student dorms are considered to have better security, with an outside gate and a supervised front door, and are closely controlled by managers and security guards, stealing still takes place in such a “safe” environment.

Duong Thi Yen, a student of the Radio-Television Broadcasting College, was a victim of theft right in her dorm room. One morning, she went to class but forgot to lock the door. Her roommates were still sleeping and some thief slipped in to steal her cell phone. Another time, her roommate, Trinh Thuy Linh, had her cell phone snatched off her hands by a stranger when she was coming back to her room. Linh ran after the robber as best as she could but was unsuccessful.

Not all the theft and robbery are committed by outsiders, however. Many of them are the work of fellow students who steal or pilfer anything, big or small, whatever its value, from their roommates or housemates, from money, mobile phones and watches to even underwear.

As thieves act clandestinely and some are so skillful as making it impossible to catch them, the problem becomes a nagging concern for many students at lodging houses and school dorms. Nguyen Thi Mai, a student of the National Institute of Education Management in Hanoi City, said, “I sit in the classroom but my mind is worrying about my laptop left in the room.”

At a time when high inflation increases the cost of many products, many students find it hard to replace the things that have been stolen from them. Many have tried to stay on high alert and keep an extra watchful eye on their personal belongings.

Hanoi to finalize plan to treat turtle next week

The Hanoi People’s Committee has asked the people charged with finding the best plan to treat the Sword Lake turtle to turn in their final proposal by April 10.

The turtle, which has been seriously injured by polluted water, is now being kept inside a tank at the Turtle tower on the lake, waiting for treatment.

Nguyen Van Khoi, deputy chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, has asked the emergency committee to be on guard 24/7 to protect the turtle and speedily clean up the lake.

Schoolboys arrested for killing gold workers

After ten days of investigation, Quang Nam police yesterday arrested two high school students for allegedly killing two workers at a gold mining site.

Soon after their arrest, N.X.T. and H.V.H, both grade 11 students at the Au Co High School, pleaded guilty to the murder.

Earlier, on March 27, they sneaked into a gold mining site at a hamlet in Tu ward, Dong Giang district, planning to steal the workers’ assets there.

When caught in the act by two workers Huynh and Nghi, both from Thanh Hoa province, T. and H. attacked the workers with knives and repeatedly stabled them to death.

The two perpetrators said that on seeing the workers die, they panicked and fled the site immediately, leaving the stolen property behind.

The bodies of Huynh and Nghi were found the next morning by their co-workers.

From traces left by the two on the scene, the police tracked them down and arrested them yesterday.

Panic as Hanoi collective living quarters tilt

Hanoi residents when a collective living quarter tilted in Ba Dinh District where another building collapsed last week, badly damaging 18 families in the opposite department block.

The “Ministry of Justice Quarter”, built a long time ago to house ministry employees at a small alley off Kim Ma Thuong Street in Cong Vi Ward, has 3 adjoining blocks and is home to 63 households.

In fast-expanding Hanoi, the tiger cage has been helping thousands of residents battle shrinking living spaces. For decades, ingenious dwellers in cramped flats have built frames of steel bars to transform balconies or common corridors into spaces where they can cook, sleep, dry clothes, raise pigs or do a spot of gardening.

On the afternoon of March 31, a five-storey building located on Hanoi’s Huynh Thuc Khang Street completely collapsed shortly after the owner reconstructed the house to turn it into a pizza shop.

The entire building crumbled towards alley No. 49, knocking down the balcony of the opposite apartment before badly destroying Dang Khoa laptop shop located on the first floor.

Five days later, just several hundred meters away, hundreds of people working and living around the five-storey building located in alley No. 91, Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, Dong Da district in Hanoi chaotically rushed outside and were asked to evacuate after they were told the building showed signs of a possible collapse.