Police in Ho Chi Minh City have arrested eight suspects involved in an explosion in front of a ward-level police station in late June, with a female officer injured in what police consider a terrorist incident.

The municipal police department organized a press conference on Thursday afternoon to announce the results of their investigation into the terror attack on the police headquarters of Ward 12, Tan Binh District on June 20.

The explosion occurred in front of the police station at around 2:15 pm, injuring a female officer standing nearby and damaging the facility, along with some motorbikes parked at the venue.

Local residents shared that they heard two explosions in the vicinity of the station.

CCTV footage showed that two men traveling on a motorcycle had thrown an object toward the venue prior to the blast.

The police station in Ward 12, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City after the explosion on June 20, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A total of eight suspects have been apprehended for being involved in the crime, Major General Phan Anh Minh, deputy director of the city’s police department, said during the meeting.

Four of the arrests are on terrorism charges.

Police in Ho Chi Minh City had extracted footage from nearby security cameras before coordinating with their counterparts in the southern province of Dong Nai and the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong to investigate, hunt down, and capture the suspects, Maj. Gen. Minh stated.

On June 22, officers arrested the first suspect, who later admitted to being part of the attack. He was not the one who threw the explosives at the police station.

Police officials attend the press conference on July 5, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Investigators continued their probe and nabbed Nguyen Tuan Thanh as he was hiding in Dong Nai on June 24.

Thanks to Thanh’s statements, police arrested his father, Nguyen Khanh, the following day.

Thanh claimed he and his father were in charge of making the explosives.

Three other suspects were captured the following days for selling explosive materials to the father and son.

On June 27, Duong Ba Giang, who also took part in the production of the bombs, was detained.

The last suspect, Nguyen Hoang Nam, was nabbed on June 28. He and Thanh were the ones throwing the explosive devices at the police station.

Major General Phan Anh Minh, deputy director of the municipal Department of Police, speaks at the meeting. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The police department has initiated legal proceedings against seven out of eight suspects, Maj. Gen. Minh said.

Four of them were charged for committing terrorist acts, with the other three for trading explosives, the police official elaborated.

Thanh and his father Khanh are linked to a reactionary organization named Trieu Dai Viet Nguyen, whose leaders live in foreign countries.

The group recruited multiple people having criminal records in Vietnam, and was previously involved in a meteorite trading ring.

Khanh was a senior member of the organization, who was promised a promotion if he successfully carried out bomb attacks in the country.

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