NGHỆ AN – Police arrested 14 people, seized properties worth more than VNĐ 1.3 billion (US$58,400), plus a number of cars and motorbikes, in a raid last week in Vinh City.

After local residents tipped off the authorities, in September 2015, the Vinh City Police put in place an operation codenamed 916B to dismantle a massive illegal gambling den. A number of dangerous criminals were involved in the gambling racket.

These shady figures used to gather at a three-storey pawnshop named "Bình Cường", located on the Phạm Hồng Thái street, to gamble through card games.

On November 5, at around 5 pm, nearly 100 policemen, drafted from criminal police, mobile police and fast-response 113 police forces, were deployed.

Scouts were sent to find ways to break into the tightly locked house.

At 4:45 pm, the police broke into the house from three different sides. While one team barged in through the main gate, a second team used ladders to enter the second floor of the building while a third one deployed a fire-escape ladder to gain access to the third floor.

The subjects were caught red-handed while they were gambling. Some panicked and tried to escape but were nabbed.

Among the arrested were two dangerous criminals from Vinh City: Nguyễn Thanh Bình, 41, leader of a dangerous criminal gang called ‘Bình Lục’; and Nguyễn Thị Huyền, 42, leader of the criminal gang ‘Huyền thuốc lào’.

The rest, falling in the age bracket of 25 to 40, were all residents living in the Nghệ An Province.

While further details were not readily available, Công an nhân dân Online (Police Online) reported that in this raid, police seized some VNĐ800 million ($36,000) in cash and 10 card decks on the card table, together with other pieces of evidence. A search of the house yielded another VNĐ500 million ($22,500) in cash.

Four cars and two motorbikes, allegedly belonging to those involved in gambling, were towed to the police headquarter.

Further investigation is underway. – VNS