Lê Thanh Trung, one of the members of the massive fake gasoline ring, has been arrested. VNA/VNS Photo

ĐỒNG NAI — Police in the southern province of Đồng Nai on Thursday arrested one more suspect involved in a massive fake gasoline ring that sold about 200 million litres of fake and substandard gasoline.

Lê Thanh Trung, 38, from Cần Thơ City’s Long Tuyền Commune, was apprehended on Thursday for illegally trading fake receipts for the ring.

On February 10, the provincial police apprehended 35 ring members for allegedly smuggling, producing and trading counterfeit goods. The ring was led by Phan Thanh Hữu, 64 in HCM City, and Nguyễn Hữu Tú, 55 in Vĩnh Long Province.

The police raided Trung’s house and confiscated 27 seals of multiple companies founded by the suspect and hired other people to be the companies’ directors. The police also seized six computers, 15 boxes of documents and blank bills.  

On February 6, the provincial police co-operated with the criminal police to mobilise 14 teams to inspect multiple warehouses, filling stations and offices in Đồng Nai, Cần Thơ, Vĩnh Long, Long An, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu and HCM City.

The police caught the suspects transporting and trading a large amount of smuggled gasoline at a floating dock on the Hậu River in southern Vĩnh Long Province’s Mỹ Hoà Commune.

The suspects resisted, rushing the police force's ships and escaped, but were quickly arrested.

The police seized two vessels with a capacity of 1,500 tonnes, five barges with capacities of between 400 and 1,000 tonnes, six tankers, 2.6 million litres of gasoline, four barrels of colouring chemicals, more than VNĐ100 billion (US$4.3 million) in cash, and 12 boxes of documents.

The ring members used chemicals to produce fake and substandard A95 fuel, and transferred the fuel to a floating dock on the Hậu River in southern Vĩnh Long Province. The fuel would later be transported and distributed to filling stations.

On average, one million litres of fake and substandard gasoline were supplied to the market every day. Since last August, approximately 200 million litres of fake and substandard gasoline had been sold.

The case is under further investigation. — VNS