24 defendants stand trial on charges of smuggling over 6 tonnes of gold from Cambodia into Vietnam
Wednesday, July 17, 2024, 20:31 GMT+7
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on Tuesday opened a first-instance court hearing against 24 defendants charged with smuggling more than six metric tons of gold worth US$332.9 million from Cambodia into Vietnam.
In 2022, four of them – Nguyen Thi Minh Phung, a resident in Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong and Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang from neighboring Tay Ninh Province, and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Giau, who lives near the Chang Riec Border Gate in Tay Ninh – established two rings to smuggle gold into Vietnam from the neighboring country as the gold price in Vietnam was higher than that in Cambodia.
One of the rings was led by Phuong. She cooperated with Giau and incited five others to smuggle 1,320 kilograms of gold bullion valued at VND1.817 trillion (US$71.5 million) from July 16 to September 28, 2022.
Phung was the mastermind of the other ring. She worked with Giau and induced 20 others to smuggle 4,830 kilograms of gold bullion worth VND6.644 trillion ($261.4 million) between August 3 and September 28, 2022.
The volume of the contraband gold was worth a combined $332.9 million.
Phung used to work at a gold shop, so she was acquainted with many people in the sector in Tay Ninh, Ho Chi Minh City, and Cambodia.
She contacted accomplices in Cambodia to buy gold after receiving orders in Vietnam.
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| Cash confiscated from the defendants. Photo: Supplied |
Giau was responsible for transporting gold and money for payments. She was paid $170 for a gold bar transported to Tay Ninh and VND2,500 ($0.1) per $100 banknotes moved to Cambodia.
Investigators from the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security on September 28, 2022 kept track of them sneaking gold from Cambodia into Vietnam.
The investigators checked the defendants’ two vehicles while they were making gold delivery in Ho Chi Minh City, arrested many people, and seized 63 yellow metal bars weighing 63 kilograms together with the two vehicles.
The investigators later raided residences, workplaces, and gold shops of related people in Tay Ninh Province and Ho Chi Minh City.
They confiscated 13 gold bars weighing 13 kilograms; US$2.9 million, 63,900 euros ($69,915), 5,000 Australian dollars ($3,374), 10 million South Korean won ($7,256), 10 million Japanese yen ($63,890), and VND45 million ($1,770) in cash; computers; documents; goldsmith tools; and others.
In Vietnam, the state has the monopoly in exporting and importing raw gold to produce gold bars.
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