Gang of 7 Vietnamese arrested for debt collection, letting gamblers drift in Cambodia

The Criminal Police Department has just coordinated with relevant units to destroy a transnational organized crime gang that robbed property and illegally arrested and detained people. The information caused a stir in public opinion.

Accordingly, at about 6:30 a.m. on December 2, 2024, people in Ta Chan hamlet, Ba Ti ward, BaVet city, Svay Rieng province, Kingdom of Cambodia, discovered a man on the river with his hands and feet tied (suspected to be Vietnamese).

After receiving the information, Lieutenant General Tran Ngoc Ha - Director of the Criminal Police Department, Ministry of Public Security reported and asked for opinions from the leaders of the Ministry of Public Security, and at the same time directed the Major Crimes Department to coordinate with the Representative Office of the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam in Cambodia and Tay Ninh Provincial Police to conduct a review and verification.

Through that, it was determined that Mr. Truong Van Hoan (born in 1983, hometown Van Yen district, Yen Bai province; residing in Ben Cat city, Binh Duong province) was a person who regularly went to Cambodia to participate in gambling.

The Criminal Investigation Department has information that Vietnamese gangs in Cambodia specialize in lending money to Vietnamese gamblers at high interest rates to participate in gambling at casinos in Cambodia.

After these people lost all their money, they were arrested by these gangs and called their relatives to demand payment. If they did not pay, these gangs would attack them.

Faced with the above situation, the Criminal Police Department's Criminal Investigation Department has proactively grasped, collected information, established relationships, and the activities of groups of Vietnamese people lending money to gamblers in Cambodia.

Through that, information was discovered about Ngo Phi L (born in 1994, residing in My Duc district, Hanoi) as the ringleader. L provided money for his juniors assigned to commit crimes in Cambodia to lend money to gamblers to participate in gambling at the casino.

Based on the verification results, the Criminal Police Department coordinated with the Representative Office of the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam in Cambodia, relevant professional units of the Ministry of Public Security, Ho Chi Minh City Police, Hanoi Police, Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan, Binh Duong, Khanh Hoa, Nghe An, Tay Ninh... and Tay Ninh Border Guard force to investigate and arrest 7 subjects residing in My Duc district, Hanoi city including: NPL born in 1994; NHL, born in 1989; NVT, born in 1989; LVC, born in 1997; TNB, born in 1985; NVP, born in 1994; NMH, born in 1991.

L assigned H and NHL to lead 2 groups of Vietnamese people to find or through brokers at the casino to connect and negotiate with gamblers who needed to borrow money (from 50 to 200 million VND, for a term of 3 days, with 10% interest cut in advance). At the same time, to ensure that the gambler did not run away from debt, the subjects would rent a room near the Moc Bai Casino area. After the gambler borrowed money, the subjects would designate and take the borrower to gamble at the Moc Bai Casino and supervise and manage. If the borrower won, they would collect 15% of the "deep" money. If they lost all the money they borrowed, the subjects would take them back to the rented room mentioned above to keep them, threaten them, and force them to call their relatives to pay the debt.

On November 29, 2024, Mr. H and his wife went to Cambodia to play at casinos near Tho Mo border gate, Long An province and lost all the money they brought.

Through a broker, Mr. Hoan borrowed 100 million VND from the NHL group and was taken by the subjects to Moc Bai Casino to gamble, recover the money and pay off the debt. Because Mr. H continued to lose all the money he borrowed, HL's group took Mr. H to a motel in the Titan area managed by Chinese people, about 500m from Moc Bai Casino to keep him.

NVT realized that Mr. H was the person who owed NMH's group 200 million VND that had not been paid before, so he informed PL and H.

At the motel, HL forced Mr. H to call Ms. D (Mr. H's wife), and at the same time HL directly called and threatened Ms. D to pay Mr. H the principal of 100 million VND and interest of 20 million VND, otherwise he would take action.

On the morning of December 1, 2024, while being detained, Mr. H tried to escape, was caught by Titan building security and asked to pay a fine of 5,000 USD for causing trouble in Titan area, and at the same time did not allow HL to keep Mr. H here.

After that, PL agreed to let HL group hand over Mr. H to H's group to continue to collect money (including the debt that Mr. H borrowed from H's group since October 2024).

During the detention and transfer, Mr. H screamed and struggled, so the subjects in HL's group held him down, used tape to tie his legs and arms, and covered his mouth. HL used a knife to attack him.