Police in Lam Dong province, Vietnam’s Central Highlands region, on Thursday announced the rapid arrest of the suspect in a bank robbery that occurred at a local branch of VietinBank on Wednesday.

Nguyen Thanh Trung, 32, was detained in the early morning of Thursday when he was riding a motorbike in Ham Thuan Bac District, Binh Thuan Province, which borders Lam Dong.

The arrest was made only more than 10 hours after the suspect committed the robbery at a VietinBank branch in Lam Dong’s Duc Trong District on Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier the same day, Trung arrived at the branch on a motorbike and used a gun to threaten the office’s staff to rob about VND3 billion (US$123,200), which was packed in a backpack he had brought along.

He then ran out of the branch and when he was about to leave on his motorbike, the bank’s security guard and some locals attempted to stop him. 

At this moment, Trung opened fire at the guard, causing him to suffer bleeding.

The robber then escaped from the scene on the bike, along with the backpack. 

All the developments of the robbery were recorded by the surveillance cameras inside and outside the branch. 

Colonel Truong Minh Duong, director of Lam Dong Province Police, directly directed the hunt for the robber.  

Through reconnaissance sources, a police officer intercepted Trung while he was fleeing on a motorbike on National Highway 1 in Binh Thuan.

On the escape, Trung changed the motorbike, clothing and helmets, and traveled on routes without security cameras to avoid detection.

All the robbed money has been recovered, police said. 

According to initial investigations, Trung, hailing from north-central Ha Tinh Province, owed money to many people due to his loss-making real estate business, so he took a risk to rob a bank.

He would have fled to Cambodia if the robbery had been a success, according to investigators.

Nguyen Ngoc Phuc, deputy chairman of the Lam Dong administration, on Thursday morning gave awards to the police units participating in the search for and arrest of the bank robber.

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