Impersonating Interpol to seize property of foreign tourists

On March 19, Hoan Kiem District Police (Hanoi) said that after receiving the case from Hang Trong Ward Police (Hoan Kiem) regarding the case of two foreigners impersonating Interpol to threaten to appropriate property of foreigners, the unit continued to coordinate with professional forces of Hanoi City Police to expand the investigation, consolidate documents to handle the suspects according to regulations.

At around 12:30 on March 12, the Hang Trong Ward Police Task Force, while patrolling the Hang Thiec Street area, discovered two foreign men riding a plum-red Honda Vision motorbike with license plate 29S6-196.32 acting suspiciously, so they organized an ambush and followed them.

When arriving at 43 Hang Thiec (Hang Trong), the subject sitting in the back jumped out of the car, stopped a foreign tourist, and showed a hard card.

It was unclear what the subject said. Then the tourist took out his passport and wallet and showed them to the other subject.

The male tourist whose passport and wallet were taken was identified as Mohammad Iftakhar Hossian Khan, born in 1978, Bangladeshi nationality.

According to Mr. Mohammad's report, while he was walking on Hang Thiec Street, he was stopped by a man who showed him a "POLICE" card, communicated in English and claimed to be Interpol.

The subject asked Mr. Mohammad to hand over his passport and wallet for inspection.

Because he was abroad, did not know the law, and was worried and scared, the victim gave all his documents and assets to the above person.

Fortunately, the incident was discovered and stopped in time by Hang Trong Ward Police.

After collecting information, Hang Trong Ward Police asked the relevant subjects to return to the headquarters to work.

Hang Trong Ward Police clarified that the two suspects of property appropriation are Abdul Aziz (born in 1969, Pakistani nationality) and Jahanbakhsh Ghiasi (born in 1974, Iranian nationality).

While checking Ghiasi, the ward police seized a London (UK) “POLICE” card with the name and photo of Abdul Aziz. This was the card that Ghiasi showed and identified himself as Interpol to check foreign tourists traveling alone.

Aziz confessed that he made this card in Bangkok (Thailand) for 500 baht, with the purpose of threatening foreign tourists and then stealing their property.

Through further investigation, Ghiasi confessed that using the above method, at 12:20 p.m. on March 11, two subjects stopped an Indian male tourist at 13 Hang Gai, Hoan Kiem (Hanoi), and asked him to hand over his passport and wallet for inspection.

Ghiasi appropriated 10 million VND including 20 Vietnamese banknotes with a face value of 500,000 VND.

Ghiasi then chased the Indian tourist away and got into the car with Abdul Aziz and left. Ghiasi gave Abdul Aziz 4 million VND and kept 6 million VND for personal expenses.

The investigation agency checked and identified the Indian tourist whose property was stolen by the subjects as Mr. Pradhap Kakkappan (born in 1998) and invited the victim to work. Comparing the images, Mr. Pradhap recognized Ghiasi as the one who stole his money.

Based on the collected evidence and statements of the subjects, the Investigation Police Agency of Hoan Kiem District Police has decided to prosecute the criminal case of property extortion and issue a decision to temporarily detain the two subjects Abdul Aziz and Jahanbakhsh Ghiasi.