Police in Ho Chi Minh City are verifying viral video footage depicting a man threatening a resident for filming traffic officers fining violators at a flyover on a section of National Highway 1 in District 9.

The footage shows two traffic police officers dealing with a group of traffic offenders on Wednesday, September 6.

A man in denim jacket standing nearby then spots the camera and confronts the man filming, allegedly threatening him and demanding the footage be deleted.

An initial investigation showed that the two officers in the video clip work for the Rach Chiec traffic police unit in District 9.

Relevant individuals have been asked to file reports regarding the situation, investigators from the municipal Department of Police said.

Many residents have reported seeing such ‘assistants’ near traffic police stops throughout Saigon.

The video continued to be shared more widely after Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper released an article about a team of traffic cops collecting unofficial ‘fines’ near Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

The officers referred to in the article had been asking traffic violators to pay specific amounts of money in order to keep violations off their records – a violation of standard protocol.

The man in denim jacket forces the filmer to pull over.

During an interview with Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborer) newspaper, Major Nguyen Van Hoi, leader of the Rach Chiec traffic police unit, confirmed that the officers caught on camera are in fact members of the team.

However, Maj. Hoi avoided listing their names, stating that he would need further verification.

The police chief added that he could not identify the man wearing a denim jacket, stressing that he had never seen him before.

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