Police have captured an Iranian man belonging to a gang that appropriated VND3.1 million (nearly US$140) from the owner of a grocery in Ho Chi Minh City.

Officers in Binh Chanh District on Tuesday said they have handed over Fiyoi Mehraban, 37, holding Iranian nationality, to the city-level police for further investigation on charges of “property robbery by snatching,” pursuant to Article 136 of the Penal Code.

The Binh Chanh police are hunting for Mehraban’s two accessories, who are identified merely as Llim and Symk.

At about 4:00 pm on September 30, the three foreigners arrived at a grocery in Pham Van Hai Commune in Binh Chanh in a car, according to the case file.  

Two of the three got out of the vehicle and stepped into the grocery, owned by Nguyen Thi Thanh, a woman.

They then handed Thanh a Vietnamese banknote worth VND500,000 (US$22.3) to pay for two cans of drinks and a pack of cigarettes.

When Thanh gave four VND100,000 ($4.45) bills back to the foreigners, they rejected and asked the woman to give them two VND200,000 notes.

Thanh’s husband then took out from the cash drawer a wad of notes totaling VND2.7 million ($120) to search for VND200,000 bills.

At this moment, Nguyen Ngoc Bich, a woman who had fallen victim to the gang, went past the grocery by chance and saw the swindling foreigners.

As Bich shouted loudly asking for help to seize the swindlers, the two foreigners rapidly grasped the wad of cash from Thanh’s husband and two VND200,000 notes from her hands.

Thanh reported the case to police, who launched an investigation and later detained Mehraban at a hotel in District 7. 

Mehraban admitted that he and his two accomplices had snatched money from Thanh and that they were the culprits in many similar cases.

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