Residents in Phu Quoc, the largest island located in southwestern Vietnamese waters, have been living in fear since a gang of mobsters set up a ‘toll booth’ at one of the busiest seaports a few days after Tet, or Vietnam’s Lunar New Year.

The mob’s primary area of operation is the An Thoi international seaport, located in southern Phu Quoc and one of the island’s busiest sites for both merchants and tourists.

According to locals living near the area, a group of 20 men appeared at An Thoi around four or five days after Tet, which began on February 8 and wrapped up a week later.

The gang marked their occupancy by erecting a barrier to block the entrance to the seaport’s wharf and charging VND5,000-10,000 (US$0.22-0.45) for each entry, fishermen and tourists alike.

An attendant on board a tourist ship moored at the An Thoi international seaport said the gang charged their tourists per person although the tour operator had already paid a ‘fee’ they demanded in advance.

“When we asked them questions about this double ‘fee,’ they shouted at us and simply said we could either pay or get lost,” the attendant recounted.

Nguyen Tan Thanh, 61, was another victim of the violent gang when he was going down the wharf to collect fish as usual on February 23.

“I found the ‘fee’ ridiculously unreasonable, so I refused to pay,” Thanh recalled. “The next thing I knew was that two men jumped at me and tried to attack me. I managed to block a hit to my right hip, but was hit twice on my left shoulder.”

“A friend of mine tried to intervene, but they threatened to beat him,” Thanh said.

Locals said the group, led by a man named Phong, lived in an abandoned warehouse inside the international seaport and called themselves ‘security guards’ in charge of loading and unloading goods as well as collecting ‘entry fees.’

The ring also lured all fishing boats unloading at an old seaport nearby back to the port under their ‘management,’ where they charged their victims many times the usual unloading fee of VND100,000-150,000 ($4.57-6.86).

“We have decided to stop working for a few days to avoid clashing with the gang, seeing how aggressive they are,” the leader of a loading team at An Thoi said.

Following residents’ reports, Phu Quoc police sent undercover officers to the site to observe the group’s activities, and later identified 32-year-old Nguyen Thanh Phong as their leader.

According to Major Tran Huu Chuong, head of the Phu Quoc Police Office’s division for investigating crimes related to public order, Phong had been hired by Nguyen Van Doan, manager of the An Thoi international seaport, since February 11 to oversee a group of security guards and loaders at the wharf.

With the employment contract in hand, Phong gathered a group of ‘followers’ to station at the seaport, some of them having previous criminal records.

Vuong Quoc Khanh, deputy general director of An Thoi Port JSC, toldTuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday that his company had won the bid to operate An Thoi for 30 years, but had left it to Doan to oversee due to a lack of personnel.

Khanh said he had just taken over the position for ten days and had just heard about the gang a few days earlier.

“Doan said at a meeting with the board of directors in Ho Chi Minh City before Tet that he had employed a group of guards to reestablish order at the port. Who could have imagined such a thing would happen?” Khanh said.

Phong had been told by police officers to promise not to commit the crime in the future, while his group had been let off by their employers and disbanded.

Tuoi Tre journalists reported from the site on March 10 that the port had returned to its normal routines.