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8 suspects detained for robbing bus passengers in southern Vietnam

Police in Ho Chi Minh City have announced that eight people of a gang had been held for allegedly robbing bus passengers, adding that they were accused of using violence to threaten the victims.
The eight are Nguyen Van Dang, 33, Vo Hoang Nhan, 32, Quach Hoang Trung, 27, Nguyen Huu Tam, 48, Nguyen Ngoc Dac, 57, Tran Van Liem, 42, Ho Thanh Hai, 38, and Nguyen Thi Hoang, 42.
Trung is a drug addict and was once convicted of disturbing public order, while Nhan’s criminal record includes theft and public order disturbance.
Police are hunting for the ninth suspect of the gang, 26-year-old Kim Chanh Tha.
The suspects claimed that they started their illegal operation in July and had committed 11 robbery cases besides those reported by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper last month.
The gang members are considered dangerous criminals, who used weapons and violence to threaten, rob and extort money from passengers, according to a police officer in charge of the case.
On November 9, N.T.K. and N.T.T.L., two female passengers from the southern province of Tien Giang, were tricked by Hoang into getting on a bus driven by Dang and carrying three other gang members, Nhan, Hoang and Trung.
The thugs then locked the bus and attacked L. in her face and stomach while using a knife to threaten K., forcing her to give them VND7 million (US$310.6), two cellphones and their accessories.
On November 12, the suspects resorted to a similar method to commit several other robberies, appropriating VND25 million ($1,109) from 62-year-old D.V.V., about VND7 million and a smartphone worth VND9 million ($399.4) from N.M.T. and L.T.N., before leaving them in the middle of nowhere with just a few pennies in their pockets.
In a more serious case, 24-year-old N.T.H. was hustled onto a bus steered by Tam that was expected to take her to the southern province of An Giang on July 23.
Besides overcharging the passenger, the thugs also intimidated her into giving them VND1.6 million ($71) and two golden rings, demanding from her family a ransom of VND10 million ($443.8) in order for the victim to be released.
The villains formed a team of nine robbers who are either junkies or have recently finished jail terms.
They used three passenger buses that appear outdated and ragged, often parked them around the Mien Tay (Western) Bus Station in Binh Tan District to pick up passengers illegally, and even expanded their activities to outlying Thu Duc District and District 12.
Their buses are numbered 53M-2817, 54S-6445, and 51B-05049, according to a Tuoi Tre probe.
They mainly targeted elderly, female and slightly-built passengers who would be unlikely to resist.