6-ton gold smuggling case: Mastermind Nguyen Thi Minh Phung sentenced to 18 years in prison

On the afternoon of July 19, after 4 days of trial and deliberation, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced defendant Nguyen Thi Minh Phung (43 years old, from Binh Dinh) to 18 years in prison; Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong (39 years old) to 15 years in prison; Nguyen Thi Ngoc Giau (44 years old, Phuong's sister) to 18 years in prison.

21 other defendants were sentenced to 4-13 years in prison in the case of smuggling 6 tons of gold (worth 8,500 billion VND) from Cambodia to Vietnam.

According to the Trial Panel, through the investigation and public questioning in court, there is sufficient basis to affirm that the indictment against the defendants for the crime of “Smuggling” is correct in terms of the person, the crime, the law, and not unjust. In particular, defendants Phung and Giau played the main role, the mastermind, and the ringleader in the case; the other defendants played the role of accomplices.

“Gold smuggling is becoming more and more complicated. The defendants are all knowledgeable and aware of the law, but for the purpose of making a profit, they ignored regulations and committed illegal acts,” the Trial Panel stated.

According to the Trial Council, the defendants smuggled an exceptionally large amount of gold. The defendants’ actions affected the stability of gold trading activities, security and order, and the State’s economic management activities, so they should be severely punished; however, the court also acknowledged the mitigating circumstances for the defendants, such as their honest confession, repentance, partial redress of the consequences, and the fact that some defendants’ families had contributed to the revolution, so they were sentenced to the above sentence.

Regarding civil liability, the Trial Panel ordered the defendants to return all illegal profits and seize the defendants' assets to ensure the execution of the judgment.

According to the indictment, since the beginning of 2022, Nguyen Thi Minh Phung and Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong saw that the domestic gold price was higher than that of Cambodia, so they colluded with Giau (living near the Chang Riec border gate, Tay Ninh) and many others to set up two transport lines to Vietnam to resell to customers, making illegal profits. Phung's line smuggled 4,830 kg of gold bars, worth more than VND 6,644 billion, profiting more than VND 17.6 billion.

After bringing this smuggled gold to Vietnam, Phung sold it to Huynh Minh Khanh (Khanh Kim Loan gold shop, Ho Chi Minh City) 560kg, Nguyen Thi Minh (Kim Hien Binh Minh gold shop, Ho Chi Minh City) 268kg, Dang Thi Thanh Hang (owner of Phuc Hang gold shop, Hanoi) 294kg and many individual customers whose origins were unknown. The remaining 76kg were temporarily seized by the investigation agency during the search.

According to records, some customers who bought Phung's smuggled gold were shown by symbols. When their identities were verified, the investigation agency determined that these customers did not know they were buying smuggled gold, so there was no basis for criminal prosecution.

The second gold smuggling ring was led by Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong (Giau's sister). The Procuracy accused Phuong of luring five people into her ring, smuggling 1,320 kg of gold bars from Cambodia to Vietnam, worth VND1,817 billion, and profiting more than VND6.8 billion.