The arrested belong to a specially dangerous gang of 11 armed robbers who ussually appeared in the Tri Ton and Tinh Bien districts, said Senior Lieutenant Colonel Bui Be Nam, head of the province’s Anti-Crime Investigation Police Department.
Of the gang members, 5 are Cambodians and the rest are Khmer people with Vietnamese nationality, the official said.
On April 3 night, after illegally crossing the border from Cambodia to Vietnam, the gang raided a house on Thoi Son Commune, Tinh Bien District and robbed 8.8 taels of gold (US$16,600), VND50 million ($2,400) and 7 mobile phones.
They robbers assaulted Chau Thai, the house’s owner. Thai had some rib bones broken. He also suffered injuries in the head.
The robbers came in three motorbikes and were armed with 1 AK submachine gun and 2 hand guns, Thai had told police, who later managed to seize two of the gang’s members, Chau Chu and Lam Thanh Phuoc, in Tinh Bien.
A police team was sent to Cambodia to coordinate with their Cambodian counterparts in cracking down the gang.
As a result, two other robbers, Hong Soc Chia and Chau Doc, have recently been arrested.
The police of the two countries are hunting for the remaining gang members.
Yesterday the An Giang Province People's Committee conferred certificates of merit on the provincial anti-crime police and the Tinh Bien District police for their good performances in busting the gang.
The authorities also presented a bonus of VND50 million ($2,400) to each police unit.