Emergency arrest of 9 people involved in the case of carrying a coffin in a parade in Ho Chi Minh City

On March 3, Ho Ngoc Tuan, 25 years old, Nguyen Van Quyet and Vo Thi Thanh Xuan (Quyet's wife, both 30 years old) and 6 others were urgently arrested by the Criminal Police Department of Ho Chi Minh City Police to investigate the act of disturbing public order.

According to the investigation, earlier this year Tuan created a TikTok account with the purpose of doing business, selling clothes online, but had no capital so he worked for hire to earn money. After a while, Tuan met Quyet and his wife, and they agreed to support his start-up and invested money. According to the agreement, Tuan would come up with business ideas, design, advertise and sell products, with profits split 50/50.

To advertise the sale of clothes, Tuan filmed many clips with different ideas, posted them on social networks to create effects and increase interactions and views, but the results were not as expected. Tuan then came up with the idea of ​​filming a clip with the content of 4 people wearing black carrying a coffin in the street to create a shocking event, increase views to sell clothes. He discussed with Quyet's wife and some people, and they agreed.

This group contacted Nhan Bao Tho coffin factory in Long An to buy a coffin for 3.5 million VND; hired the owner, Nguyen Van Tham (31 years old), to paint it black and asked them to find people to carry it on the street.

At the end of January, Tuan went to a decal shop to print the design, and with the whole group went to Tham's coffin factory in Long An to stick it on the coffin. This person contacted and agreed to take photos and record a 4-hour video for 1.3 million VND at HM Production studio on Huyen Tran Cong Chua street (Ben Thanh ward, district 1) and hired additional photo models.

On February 25, Tuan contacted Tham to bring the coffin to the front of the photo and video studio. In the afternoon, he gave 5 jackets with the design he wanted to advertise to the group of workers to wear, then carried the coffin down Huyen Tran Cong Chua Street - in the opposite direction to Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street and then back (about 200 meters).

After finishing filming the video, because he was not satisfied, Tuan decided to take the coffin to Ben Thanh market to film it again, paying Tham more money.

The group brought the coffin to the Youth Volunteers parking lot, carried the coffin on foot on Le Lai Street towards the Le Lai - Tran Hung Dao intersection, crossed the traffic lights towards the South gate of Ben Thanh market, then to the next intersection where a car was waiting to take them back to Long An.

In a 30-second video that went viral on social media, four young men dressed in black, with hoods and masks, were seen carrying a coffin with white writing written on it, walking several times in front of Ben Thanh Market. The group also carried the coffin on foot under the motorbike lane.

The video has attracted a large number of viewers, expressing their indignation and anger, claiming that this is an offensive advertising behavior. As of 4:00 a.m. on March 3, the post had 8,185 likes, 925 comments, 366 video saves, and 4,127 shares.

The investigation agency determined that Tuan and his accomplices organized the hiring of people to carry the coffin and parade it on crowded streets, negatively affecting public order and security. After posting, the social network had a large number of followers, especially large comments and interactions, causing a negative impact on public opinion.

Therefore, the behavior of Tuan and his accomplices showed signs of the crime of disturbing public order as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 318 of the Penal Code.