The trial of robbers who committed eight gold robberies netting nearly 1,000 taels of gold in the southern region ended on May 23 with three of the gang sentenced to death.
The defendants on the trial on May 23
The HCM City People’s Court sentenced three defendants Huynh Van Tiem, 54 years old, Le Anh Kiet, 47 years old, and Nguyen Van Nhan, 56 years old, to death after they were found guilty of murder, robbery, and possession of illegal weapons.
Defendant Phan Van Tuong, 40, was sentenced for life imprisonment and defendant Dang Van Phuoc, 62, was sentenced for 15 years in prison. Besides the band had to compensate victims VND33 billion (USD15.7 million).
According to the court’s indictment, between September 22, 2000, and October 7, 2005, the defendants used weapons to carry out eight gold robberies in HCM City and some southern provinces such as Tay Ninh, Long An, Vinh Long and Dong Nai.
They shot dead one person and injured three others, stealing gold worth hundreds of millions of VND.
Tiem and Kiet became friends during the time when they were in prison together in Binh Phuoc Province. After being set free, Tiem came to HCM City to entice Kiet and some others to rob gold shops. Then they bought two guns.
On November 7, 2001, they robbed the Thanh Tam gold shop in Cu Chi District, HCM City. After that, they used the gun to attack the shop owners, taking 200 taels of gold, USD500 and 210,000 Japanese Yen.
Defendants Huynh Van Tiem (grey hair) and Le Anh Kiet
On October 2, 2004, they killed the owner of the shop in HCM City’s District 8, robbed a further 50 taels of gold, VND150 million and USD10,000.
After the robbery at the Tu Minh gold shop in Vinh Long City on July 10, 2005, Kiet temporarily halted the gang’s operations.
Kiet and Tiem were arrested in a police raid on October 8, 2011, when they met each other to discuss a new robbery plan at a cafe in HCM City. Other members of the gang were subsequently arrested later.