Smuggling "boss" Muoi Tuong gets 23 years in prison for transporting nearly 51 kg of gold

On the afternoon of August 13, after 5 days of trial, the People's Court of An Giang province sentenced the case of smuggling 51 kg of gold and illegally transporting currency across the border involving defendants Nguyen Thi Kim Hanh (aka Muoi Tuong, born in 1969; residing in An Phu district, An Giang province) and 24 accomplices.

Overview of the trial

Accordingly, the defendant Hanh was sentenced to 16 years in prison for smuggling and 7 years in prison for illegally transporting currency across the border. The total sentence for the defendant Hanh is 23 years in prison. The defendant Hanh must also pay an additional penalty of 100 million VND for smuggling and 50 million VND for illegally transporting currency across the border.

The defendants who were Muoi Tuong's "little brothers" were sentenced to 7 to 12 years in prison. The defendants who were gold shop owners were sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison and were forced to pay an additional fine of 100 million VND each.

Smuggling "boss" Muoi Tuong gets 23 years in prison

According to the indictment, at about 12:40 p.m. on October 30, 2020, An Giang Provincial Police patrolling the Vietnam - Cambodia border in Vinh Nguon ward, Chau Doc city discovered Nguyen Hoang Ut driving a hull (motorboat made of composite plastic material) from Cambodia to group 7 (Vinh Chanh 1 hamlet, Vinh Nguon ward) to the shore of Tuy Bien road.

At the same time, Nguyen Van Minh, Tran Van Hai, Nguyen Huu Phuoc, and Vo Van Trung walked to Manh's house and took 3 nylon bags containing nearly 51 kg of 99.99% pure gold and put them on two motorbikes parked on the shore. The joint force arrested Hai with the evidence, while Minh, Ut, Phuoc, and Trung escaped.

On the same day, October 30, 2022, Nguyen Van Minh, Vo Minh Tam, and Phan Van Bo came to Chau Doc City Police Station to surrender, confessing to their actions with Ut in illegally transporting gold from Cambodia to Vietnam.

The investigation determined that: Tran Thi Thao Trang, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Van, Nguyen Ngoc Dai Nghia, Truong Van Liem, Truong Thai Nguyen, the gold shop owners, and Duong Cong Cuong had an agreement to transfer USD from Vietnam to Cambodia and buy gold from Tuot, Hia, Pha Na (currently living in Cambodia, unknown full name, specific address) to transfer to Vietnam.

Tuot, Hia, Pha Na hired Hanh to transport USD and gold to Van, Nghia, Cuong and Nguyen so that Nguyen could deliver them to Trang with a transportation fee of 70 USD for every 100,000 USD, and 15 USD for each kilogram of gold.

To transport USD and gold across the Vietnam - Cambodia border, Hanh hired and assigned Mai Thi Ngoc Phan and Pham Tan Loc to directly contact Nguyen, Cuong, Van, and Nghia to receive USD, deliver gold, and receive transportation fees.

Loc and Le Thi Bach Van counted the amount of USD and gold, then together with Hoang Ut, Vo Van Trung, Nguyen Huu Phuoc, Tran Van Hai, and Tran Van Minh transported USD to Cambodia and received gold to transport to Hanh's house to deliver to the gold shops.

While transporting nearly 51 kg of gold from Cambodia to Vietnam, the subjects were caught red-handed by An Giang Provincial Police.

According to Vietnamnet