On October 24, the People's Court of An Giang province opened a first-instance criminal trial to try the defendants Nguyen Thi Kim Hanh (aka Muoi Tuong, 54 years old, residing in An Phu district), Nguyen Van Vo (55 years old, residing in Chau Phu district), Mai Van Dep (67 years old), Tong Truong Giang (40 years old, both residing in An Phu district, An Giang) for smuggling.
The above defendants are involved in the case of smuggling 80 tons of sugar from Cambodia to Vietnam in 2012.
The Chief of the Waterway Police Station drives a canoe to escort illegal goods.
According to the indictment, on March 15, 2012, Nguyen Thi Kim Hanh established Huynh Phat Dat Private Enterprise, in the business of buying and selling sugar, but let Tran Van Phuong (Don), Hanh's employee, be the business owner, and Hanh directly managed the business operations.
Defendant Nguyen Thi Kim Hanh (aka Muoi Tuong) at the trial
To have a source of sugar to sell, Hanh bought smuggled sugar from Cambodia and brought it back to Vietnam to resell. In order to avoid being detected by the authorities, Hanh met defendant Nguyen Van Vo (who was working at the Waterway Police Department of An Giang Province Police, holding the position of Chief of the Tan Chau Waterway Police Station) and asked Vo to "facilitate" Hanh to transport smuggled sugar by boat from Cambodia to Vietnam through the border of Vinh Xuong Commune, Tan Chau Town.
Vo agreed to help by: when Hanh's boat carrying smuggled sugar passed through the river section under Vo's management, Vo sent a canoe with a sign of the An Giang Province Waterway Police Department to escort Hanh's boat transporting sugar inland, so that it would not be arrested by other forces.
At about 5:00 p.m. on December 22, 2012, Nguyen Thi Kim Xuyen (Hanh's sister) called the defendants Dep and Giang to take the wooden boat AG-20735 from Con Tien ferry (An Phu district) to the sugar warehouse in Cambodia to receive 80 tons of sugar to transport back to Vietnam. At about 10:00 p.m. on December 23, 2012, after receiving 80 tons of sugar (1,600 bags, each bag weighs 50 kg - PV), Hanh called Dep and Giang to transport the sugar back to Vietnam, and when passing the border area in Vietnam, she called Hanh to inform her. When Giang and Dep drove the boat carrying sugar to the Tien River, about 150 meters from the Cambodian border, Vo drove the canoe carrying the Working Group of the Tan Chau Waterway Police Station to meet Giang and Dep's boat for inspection.
Defendant Nguyen Van Vo at trial
At this time, Vo knew that Giang and Dep were hired by Hanh to transport sugar, so he did not ask to check the documents related to the vehicle and goods. Vo asked Dep and Giang to steer the boat according to instructions, while Vo got on the canoe and followed Giang's boat about 20 meters away to keep watch and intervene if the authorities discovered and arrested them.
Smuggling group was administratively fined
At about 2:00 a.m. on December 24, 2012, the smuggled sugar boat driven by Giang reached the area of Thuong Phuoc 1 commune, Hong Ngu district (Dong Thap), bordering Vinh Hoa commune, Tan Chau town, when it was stopped by Dong Thap province's Customs force, whose documents and goods were checked.
At the same time, Vo intervened, claiming that he was escorting the AG-20735 boat to the Tan Chau Waterway Police Station for handling, so there was a dispute over the authority to resolve the issue. After learning that the AG-20735 boat had been arrested, Hanh called an employee to come and write an invoice for Huynh Phat Dat Private Enterprise for selling 80 tons of sugar to people in Cao Lanh, Dong Thap and asked someone to bring the invoice to the authorities to legalize the origin of the seized smuggled sugar.
Defendant Tong Truong Giang (left) and defendant Mai Van Dep at the trial
After that, Dong Thap Customs force agreed to hand over to the Waterway Traffic Police Department of An Giang Provincial Police and then hand over to the Economic Police Department of An Giang Provincial Police for handling according to authority.
On March 26, 2013, the People's Committee of An Giang province issued administrative penalty decision No. 38, fining Tran Van Phuong 60 million VND, returning the boat with license plate AG-20735 and 80 tons of sugar. After Phuong paid the fine, the An Giang Provincial Police returned the boat and 80 tons of sugar as evidence to Dep, along with related documents.
On July 14, 2021, because of a complaint about Vo's behavior related to the above violation of transporting 80 tons of sugar by Hanh's group, the An Giang Provincial Police Department of Investigation received information about the crime and proceeded to verify. After that, the defendants Vo, Dep, and Giang turned themselves in, admitting to their crimes. In turn, the four defendants Hanh, Vo, Dep, and Giang were prosecuted for investigation and handling of smuggling.
The conclusion of the asset valuation by the An Giang provincial authorities determined that the total quantity of 80 tons of white sugar, evidence of the smuggling case, was worth 1.2 billion VND.
Regarding the case, Hanh asked the employee to transfer 379 million VND to Vo as requested by Hanh from the source of money from selling smuggled sugar. The An Giang Provincial Police Department will continue to investigate and verify for later handling. The lack of objectivity in the investigation and verification by the officers and investigators of the Economic Police Department of An Giang Provincial Police leads to administrative sanctions. The Investigation Agency will separate and propose handling later.
The People's Court of An Giang province will try the sugar smuggling case carried out by "smuggling boss" Muoi Tuong and his accomplices until October 26.
Quick view 8pm: Panoramic news on October 24
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