Breaking into a jewelry store and stealing 6.6 kg of gold

On August 31, Chau, Le Van Lo, Le Minh Hoang, Le Chi Linh, and Pham Van Gioi (33-48 years old) were arrested by Ca Mau Provincial Police for theft of property after more than 3 months of committing the crime.

Earlier, on the night of May 20, the family of Mr. Pham Minh Duc (owner of a gold shop in Lien Hoa hamlet, Khanh Hai commune) woke up due to noises in the jewelry display area. When they went to check, they discovered two strangers in the house and shouted for help, but the suspects managed to escape through the front door.

During the investigation, the police found that the safe had been broken into, all the gold displayed in the glass case had been taken, and the doors and fences showed signs of being broken into and cut. At the scene, the police found pliers, knives, two crowbars, and some other items left by the thieves. The gold shop owner said the value of the stolen property was about 10 billion VND.

Security cameras recorded thieves wearing masks, gloves, hats, and using tools to break into the gold shop.

Lieutenant Colonel Lam Quoc Thanh, Deputy Head of the Criminal Police Department of Ca Mau Province Police, said the investigation agency determined that the suspects were local people, so they assigned a reconnaissance team to check the area and screen suspects.

Four days later, Chau went to a gold shop in Song Doc town to sell a large amount of jewelry and was invited by the police to come in for questioning. The suspect admitted to breaking into Mr. Duc's gold shop and stealing 6.6 kg of jewelry, and also revealed four accomplices.

The thieves said they divided the stolen jewelry equally and melted it into bars for easy storage. They also took it to other stores and bought other gold to "cover their tracks" and did not shop or spend it to avoid detection.

Currently, the police have recovered 6 kg of gold (11 bars of 18K and 24K); cash, and savings books worth about 530 million VND.