Young man in Thai Nguyen broke into a safe to steal gold and money, bought a car to take his girlfriend out.

On December 21, the Criminal Police Department of Thai Nguyen Province Police informed about the case of arresting a subject who broke into a house and stole money and gold from a safe worth more than 1 billion VND.

Previously, at around 7:00 a.m. on October 9, Cao Trung Hieu (born in 2004), residing in Quang Minh hamlet, Phu Lac commune, Dai Tu district, Thai Nguyen province, took a bus from his home to the Nui Coc Lake area (in Tan Thai commune, Dai Tu district) to find a house that was vulnerable and break in to steal property.

When he arrived at Bai Bang hamlet, Tan Thai commune, Hieu discovered that Mrs. P.'s house (born in 1969) was empty, there were no passersby, and the gate was locked, so he went around the back path and climbed the wall to get into the house. When passing through the banana bushes, Hieu left the red plastic bag containing clothes there.

Entering the yard, the main door was locked, but seeing a bunch of keys hanging near the kitchen, Hieu tried to use the key to open the door and was able to open it. The subject pried open the wooden cabinet in the living room and opened the wooden cabinet in the bedroom but did not find any property. When continuing to go to the next room, Hieu saw a safe placed next to the bed. After searching further, he found the key to the safe but could not open the safe. The subject used a knife to break the lock and discovered inside many stacks of money in denominations of 500,000 VND, 200,000 VND, 100,000 VND, and a red box containing a 1-tael round gold ring; a 0.5-tael round gold ring; a 2.5-tael square-faced gold ring and a 3-tael gold necklace.

Hieu put the red box containing gold in his pocket and took out the money and put it in a plastic bag to put in the banana bushes. However, because he could not hold all the money, he left behind 2 bundles of 100,000 VND bills and 1 bundle of 200,000 VND bills (about 200 million VND). On the way, he hitched a ride on a motorbike from a man to the intersection, then got on a convenient car to Gia Sang intersection, Thai Nguyen city.

The subject used the stolen money to buy a T-shirt and a backpack for more than 1 million VND, took a taxi to a phone store near Dong Quang roundabout to buy an Iphone 15 Promax mobile phone with a charger, tempered glass and a warranty package for nearly 31 million VND, then Hieu took a Limosine to a car dealership on Pham Van Dong Street (Xuan Dinh Ward, Bac Tu Liem District, Hanoi) to buy a Hyundai Santafe car for 855 million VND. The subject drove to Thai Nguyen to take his girlfriend in Dai Tu District out.

At around 9:00 a.m. on October 10, Hieu took his girlfriend to get her hair done, then went to the bank to deposit 23 million VND into his account, and sold 3 gold rings for more than 32 million VND, then took his girlfriend out to eat and transferred 1.4 million VND to her.

On October 11, the subject drove home for military service examination and was summoned by the police. Knowing that he could not hide his crime, Hieu confessed the whole incident to the police and voluntarily handed over his car, iPhone, gold chain and related items.

On October 14, the Thai Nguyen Provincial Police Department prosecuted Cao Trung Hieu for theft. In addition to buying and selling gold and the above-mentioned assets, the subject also deposited 50 million VND into the account to gamble. The police are currently continuing to investigate and prosecute the subject for this act.

It is known that in 2022, Cao Trung Hieu had a previous conviction for theft of property, and was sentenced to 6 months in prison by the Dai Tu District People's Court, suspended, and on probation for 12 months. His parents work far away, currently living with his grandfather, and has no education or job.

In this case, Ms. P's house was on a sparsely populated street, when the incident occurred, few people passed by, and there were no security cameras on the streets... In addition, the fact that the subject used the key to open the main door and left behind a small amount of cash during the theft made the homeowner initially assume that the perpetrator was an acquaintance. However, through professional measures and a wide-ranging investigation, investigators from the Criminal Police Department of Thai Nguyen Province Police forced Hieu to admit to all his actions. The subject broke in randomly, had no relationship with the homeowner, and lived more than 20km away...