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Officers ask for money to help release people from Saigon rehab center

Officers ask for money to help release people from Saigon rehab center

Monday, July 31, 2017, 11:10 GMT+7

A group of police officers in one Ho Chi Minh City neighborhood have been asking local residents to pay a fee to ‘rescue’ their family members from a local rehabilitation center.

Following a decision to transfer drug users into the facility, the team of officers from Vinh Loc B Commune, Binh Chanh District then contacted family members making offers to bail them out at a price.

N.T.N.Y., 57, one local resident, recalled that her son, 37-year-old T.T.D., went out for some drinks with his friends on the night of July 11.

At 10:30 pm the same day, Y. received a phone call from police saying that D. had been arrested for using crystal meth.

Y. arrived at the police station the following day, bringing along the necessary paperwork to bail her son out.

While an officer said Y. needed to wait for several days, the woman noticed that all of D.’s friends had already been released.

Later the same day, she was informed that her son had been transferred to the Nhi Xuan rehab center in Hoc Mon District.

Ta An Huu, an officer from the police station in Vinh Loc B, told Y. that it was not possible to release D. at that point, before offering an alternative solution.

“I can ask my team to help you, for a fee,” Huu said. “About VND60 million [US$2,644]. You should pay 50 percent upfront.”

Ta An Huu returns to his office after the meeting with Y. on July 25, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The two arranged for another discussion at a coffee shop on July 25, during which Huu said that D. had been found using drugs for quite a long time and should be admitted to the rehab center for a few months.

“I understand that you are concerned for his well-being. The facility can be dangerous as it is filled with addicts and people with HIV,” the police officer continued.

After staying at Nhi Xuan for two months, D. will go through a trial that lasts about 22 months, meaning that he will be kept at the venue for two years, Huu explained.

D. may also be transferred to a different facility for further rehab treatment, he added.

Alongside the money, Huu told Y. to prepare some documents, promising that her son would be freed after a month.

D.’s mother complained that the fee was too high, but Huu said that he would only earn about VND3 million ($132.2) for ‘coffee money,’ while the rest would be given to other officers who would assist the release.

“If you don’t believe me, you can ask other officers about my credibility,” the cop said.

In one month, Y. will be taking a cab with a police official to pick her son up from the rehab center.

She will have to pay an administrative fine of VND1.5 million ($66) and some VND700,000 ($30.8) worth of taxi fare, Huu elaborated.

According to Nguyen Huu The Trach, a lawyer from the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, Huu can be charged with corruption.

Trach also believed that D. should not be kept at the rehabilitation center in his case.

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