Police in Ho Chi Minh City have arrested three young men for the rape and robbery of a girl they lured through Facebook. Trinh Duy Phuong, 29, Tran Minh Duc, 21, and T.T.H., 15, were arrested last week.  The police are currently looking for another man involved in the incident, said Lieutenant Colonel Trinh Kim Son, deputy head of the Thu Duc District.

Phuong, of HCMC’s Binh Thanh District, has been charged with rape and robbery, while H, also of Binh Thanh, and Duc, of Tien Giang Province, have been indicted for swindling to appropriate assets.

The police are hunting for another young man named Long, whose identity is yet unknown.

According to the case file, on the morning of October 15, N., 15, was taken by her mother to the police in Hiep Binh Chanh Ward to report a rape by two young men.

According to the report, N was friended by a young man nicknamed “mixaotomcua” on Facebook. The young man courted N via the social network and later convinced her to meet him in person.

At 7 pm on October 14, the man drove N on a motorbike to a café in the ward to meet his friends.

Once at the café, he took the girl’s mobile phone away and forced her to pay for their drinks.

They then carried the girl to an area beneath the Binh Loi Bridge. They tied her up and stole her earrings and VND200,000 (US$ 9.6) in cash.

The man nicknamed “mixaotomcua” and another named Long took turns raping her.

At 3 am the next day, October 15, N managed to unite herself and escape.

After N. reported the incident, police launched an investigation and 10 days later detected and seized “mixaotomcua” at an Internet shop in Thu Duc District. He said his real name is Trinh Duy Phuong.

From Phuong’s testimonies, police later arrested nearly 10 others involved in the case, including Duc and H.

The gang confessed that they had successfully carried out three similar cases, including rapes and robberies, in September using the same method.