The People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City has completed an indictment accusing three Vietnamese men of organizing and arranging the illegal stay of 21 Chinese people in Binh Tan District between June and July.

According to the indictment, Tran Chi Hao was asked by a Chinese national on June 14 to help find a house for four Chinese nationals in Ho Chi Minh City.

Hao called his friend, Nguyen Thanh Trung, for help but the pair were unable to find a suitable house.

On June 15, Trung called Nguyen Quang Thang and Vo Thi Tuyet Nhung to assist in finding a rental house.

The four Vietnamese introduced the four Chinese people to a house in Tan Tao Ward, Binh Tan District for VND3 million (US$128).

On June 17, Trung came to the rented house to welcome the Chinese group and asked to see their passports. 

The group of four Chinese then gave Trung three passports without visa stamps, indicating they had entered Vietnam illegally. Trung then alerted Thang of the situation.

Five days later, Thang came to the house and found five additional Chinese nationals living there.

The Chinese group admitted they had entered Vietnam without permission.

A few days later, another four Chinese nationals arrived at the house.

Despite acknowledging that the Chinese group had crossed the border illegally, Hao, Trung, and Thang still acted as their interperters, helped them stay in the house, purchased laptops, exchanged Chinese yuan, and bought food.

At the beginning of July, A Wang, a member in the Chinese group, asked Trung to find an additional rental house for even more Chinese to stay.

Trung once again asked Thang and Nhung for help and they successfully leased another house in Tan Tao Ward.

Between July 18 and 29, eight more Chinese people came to the new rented house, bringing the total number of Chinese nationals in the two houses to 21.

On July 27, Thang called to tell Trung that local police had asked Thang to come to the police station for an administrative check. Thang decided not to go.

The next afternoon, Tan Tao Ward police recorded that Thang had not registered a temporary residence for the Chinese guests.

Escape

When a new COVID-19 wave erupted in the central city of Da Nang in late July, Hao asked A Wang and three of the Chinese nationals to move to another place, but A Wang refused.

On the morning of July 29, A Wang called Hao to tell him that the Chinese group would leave the city by car on the same day. A Wang wanted to meet Hao and Trung to bid farewell.

That evening, A Wang asked Trung and Thang to book four cars to Aeon Mall in Tan Phu District.

After having a meal and watching a movie, Thang took the Chinese group to the mall gate for a waiting car, but the driver refused to pick up the group and asked Thang to meet him at an address on Tan Phu District’s Luy Ban Bich Street.

At around 00:30 am on July 30, Thang and the 20 Chinese nationals arrived at the aforementioned location.

Thang asked the 20 Chinese people to wait in Alley No. 539 on Luy Ban Bich Street for the car before leaving by Grab.

Shortly after, police officers arrived at the scene. Some of the Chinese managed to escape but others were apprehended.

On the morning of July 30, A Wang contacted Hao, Trung, and Thang to rent a car for the remaining Chinese group to leave Ho Chi Minh City.

After the Chinese group left that day, Thang, Trung, and Hao were summoned to the Tan Phu District police headquarters.

According to the results of an investigation into the case, Thang received VND11 million ($470), Trung VND8.5 million ($363), and Hao VND3 million from organizing and arranging the illegal stay of the Chinese group, in which Hao was responsible for four Chinese people, and Trung and Thang were responsible for ten.

The indictment, completed by the People’s Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City, emphasized that the act of organizing and arranging for Chinese people to illegally enter Vietnam and stay in Ho Chi Minh City to gain illicit benefits amidst the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the community is serious and dangerous to the society, directly affecting the stability of administrative management and social order and safety for foreigners in the city.

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