Police in Hanoi have cracked down on a ring of thieves that have stolen over 600 motorbikes in the capital and other areas over the past 12 months.

The stolen vehicles have been put on sale in other provinces and China and Cambodia since 2016, the Hanoi police department said on Tuesday.

Officers arrested 29 suspects and summoned a number of other individuals for questioning between October 14 and 18.

According to preliminary information, the ring was divided into seven groups operating across the Vietnamese capital.

The largest group was one led by 37-year-old Nguyen Quang Dinh that included 27 members working in Dong Anh, Bac Tu Liem, Cau Giay, and Tay Ho Districts in Hanoi.

They stole motorbikes across the city and primarily sold them in Soc Son District.

Dinh has already been wanted for gambling since 2015, officers said, adding that he had been hiding out at a relative’s home in Kim Lu Commune, Soc Son District.

Colonel Duong Van Giap, an official at Hanoi Department of Police, speaks at a press meeting on November 28, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The group’s members delivered the stolen motorbikes to this address, which is surrounded by security cameras.

The motorbikes were then sold to a man named Nguyen Van Dung in the northern province of Quang Ninh, as well as to other individuals who resold them in China.

Meanwhile, other groups of the ring operating in Quang Ninh Province and the southern province of Tay Ninh were lead by Dinh Thi Hoa, Ha Van Dung, Nguyen Van Sy, and several others.

Other teams were led by Do Quang Ha, who was active in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Phuoc Province, and Tay Ninh Province in the south.

Ha was in charge of selling the stolen motorcycles in Cambodia.

According to Colonel Duong Van Giap, an official at the Hanoi police department, most of the ring’s masterminds had already been apprehended.

Other members have remained on the run, Col. Giap added.

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