6 tons of gold hidden in secret compartment of tricycle from Cambodia to Vietnam

The actions of Nguyen Thi Minh Phung, 43 years old; Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong (39 years old, owner of Kim Oanh Hang gold shop in Tay Ninh); Nguyen Thi Ngoc Giau (44 years old, Phuong's sister) and 21 other defendants are mentioned in the indictment that the Supreme People's Procuracy has just completed and transferred to the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City for trial on the crime of smuggling.

In connection with the case, Dang Thi Thanh Hang (owner of Phuc Hang gold shop in Hanoi and Hat Giang in Ho Chi Minh City) has fled and is wanted by the Ministry of Public Security.

Secret compartment under the ice truck

According to the indictment, in early 2022, Phung and Phuong saw that the domestic gold price was higher than in Cambodia, so they set up two independent lines to secretly bring the gold back to Vietnam to sell for profit. These two people collaborated with Giau - living near the Chang Riec border gate, Tay Ninh, and many others to plan the transportation.

In particular, Giau is a border resident (permanent residence in the land border area), allowed to cross the border gate when needed without being forced to undergo customs control.

After joining Phung and Phuong's ring, Giau told his son Tran Thanh Thang, 22 years old, the owner of an ice factory, to trade with some Cambodians, connecting with a group of people across the border to buy gold bars from Phnom Penh to bring to Vietnam through the Chang Riec border gate.

Every afternoon, Phung would report the amount of gold needed so that Giau could order this group to prepare. The next morning, the people in Cambodia would hide the gold in a secret compartment on a motorbike carrying ice (driven by a Cambodian), go to barrier area number 1 of the Chang Riec border gate, and then notify Giau to ask Thang to come and get this vehicle. The gold would then be loaded onto many cars and delivered to Phung's juniors in Tan Phu hamlet, Tan Hung commune, Tan Chau district, Tay Ninh province.

The remaining USD payment will be hidden by Giau in the secret compartment of the tricycle, covered with tarpaulin and bags of ice, so that Thang can run to barrier number 1 and deliver it to the Cambodian group.

According to the agreement, for each gold bar (weighing one kilogram) brought from Cambodia to Tay Ninh, Giau was paid 170 USD. When transferring Phung's money for payment, she received 2,500 VND/100 USD.

In a similar manner, Phuong also smuggled many shipments of gold.

The path of 6 tons of gold

After being transported from Tay Ninh to Ho Chi Minh City, Phung will bring the smuggled gold to houses on Hong Bang Street (District 5), Lu Gia Residence (District 10); Xom Dat (District 8), Khang Phu Apartment (Tan Phu District) to hide and then resell to gold shops.

This woman bought many phones, used Telegram, Viber, Zalo... applications to direct the "henchmen" in the line to receive, manage, deliver smuggled gold to customers, and keep records. At the end of each day, they had to report the buying and selling situation so that Phung could balance the orders in Cambodia.

Phung's major customers are gold shop owner Dang Thi Thanh Hang (currently wanted), Huynh Minh Khanh (Khanh Kim Loan gold shop, District 6), Nguyen Thi Minh (Kim Hien Binh Minh gold shop) and several other retail stores. Of these, Hang alone took about 300 kg of gold, worth nearly 400 billion VND, to sell to gold shops in Ho Chi Minh City or to give to her younger brother Dang Nam Trung, 53 years old, or to send to a Vietnam Airlines flight attendant to Hanoi for sale.

On September 28, 2022, after a period of monitoring, the Economic Police Department (C03, Ministry of Public Security) caught this gang red-handed in the act of gold delivery on Hong Lac Street, Ward 14, Tan Binh District. Expanding the investigation, the police arrested dozens of people; searched many related locations in Tay Ninh province and Ho Chi Minh City, seizing a total of 76 gold bars (equivalent to 76 kg), nearly 3 million USD, 64,000 Euro, 5,000 Australian dollars, 10 million Korean won, 10 million Japanese yen, more than 45 billion VND and a series of other exhibits. Dang Thi Thanh Hang alone fled abroad.

The indictment determined that in more than two months (July 16 to September 28, 2022), this ring successfully transported more than 6 tons of gold into Vietnam. Each gold bar before being sold would have its symbol removed (hiding its foreign origin). After deducting the wages of the participants, Phung made a profit of 500,000 VND. In total, Phung profited nearly 2.5 billion VND; Phuong 132,000 USD (equivalent to 3 billion), and Giau received nearly 14 billion VND.

Proposal to handle multiple people involved

The Ministry of Public Security also determined that outside of working hours (from 5 p.m. the previous day to 7 a.m. the following morning), the border guards are responsible for guarding to ensure national security, prevent drug crimes, smuggling, and trade fraud. During this time, people, vehicles, and goods are not allowed to pass through the border gate, except in cases of force majeure.

However, from August 3 to September 28, 2022, between 4:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., Thang regularly delivered and received vehicles with ice containers (transporting gold and smuggled USD) with Cambodians at barrier area No. 1 of Chang Riec border gate. Therefore, the investigation agency believes that the 9 border guards at this border gate have signs of serious irresponsibility, so the case file is transferred to the investigation agency of the Ministry of National Defense for clarification.