Sentenced to 17 years in prison for breaking into FPT Shop to steal property

On November 21, the People's Court of Da Nang City opened a first-instance trial and sentenced defendant Nguyen Huu Phuc (born in 1991, residing in Quang Phong ward, Ba Don town, Quang Binh province) to 17 years in prison for the crime of "Theft of property".

According to the indictment, on December 7, 2022, Phuc drove a motorbike around Da Nang City looking for a vulnerable phone store to steal property.

When he arrived at FPT Shop at 826 Ngo Quyen Street, An Hai Bac Ward (Son Tra District), Phuc saw that this location was vulnerable and chose it to commit the crime. After that, Phuc went to buy pliers and 2 metal bars.

At around 3:00 a.m. on December 8, 2022, Phuc brought the prepared tools, put on a mask, a sun-protective jacket, a black backpack, and drove his motorbike back to this FPT store.

Phuc parked the car, used pliers to cut the outside roller door lock, cut the chain locking the mirror door and broke inside.

Here, Phuc used 2 metal bars to pry open the safe and stole more than 300 million VND. The subject continued to go to the phone display shelves, pry open the cabinet door and took 32 mobile phones, 2 smart watches, 2 tablets, 1 imported 20W charger accessory, total value of more than 650 million VND.

After stealing the property, Phuc moved to Ho Chi Minh City, changed the color of his motorbike and attached a different license plate to avoid detection.

From December 10, 2022 to January 7, 2023, Phuc brought the phones to many stores in Binh Duong province and Ho Chi Minh City to sell. In addition, Phuc also advertised for sale through social networking sites.

When selling phones to stores, Phuc used the fake name Tuan and lied that the phones were given as bonuses by the company to the employees so that the store owners would trust him and buy them.

Phuc also asked a man named Hung (unknown background) to help sell it. Phuc spent all the money he got.

On February 26, 2023, Da Nang City Police coordinated with relevant units to arrest Nguyen Huu Phuc while he was hiding in Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City.

It is known that Nguyen Huu Phuc has 2 previous convictions for “Theft of property”. He often went to Cambodia to gamble, and after losing all his money, he returned to Vietnam to commit burglaries and thefts.

Before breaking into FPT Shop at 826 Ngo Quyen Street, on November 25, 2022, Phuc also went to another FPT Shop at 592 Dien Bien Phu Street (Thanh Khe District) with the intention of breaking the lock to steal property, but because he saw many people walking in front of the store, he did not do it and left.