HCMC – The People’s Court of HCMC today, September 22, sentenced Nguyen Khanh, 56, head of a terrorism group that initiated a bomb blast at police stations in HCMC and Hau Giang Province in June 2018, to 24 years in prison.
He was given 20 years in jail for “terrorism to oppose the people’s administration” based on Article 113 of the 2015 Penal Code and four years for “illegally manufacturing, storing and trading explosives” under Article 305 of the 2015 Penal Code, according to Tuoi Tre newspaper. The People’s Court said his terrorist acts were “especially dangerous, serious and harmful to the country’s security”.
His accomplices, Duong Ba Giang and Nguyen Minh Tan, were sentenced to 18 years in prison, while Vu Hoang Nam, Duong Khac Minh and Pham Tran Phong Vu received an 18-year jail term for “terrorism to oppose the people’s administration”. The People’s Court also handed out a jail term between two and 12 years to 14 others.
They were members of an organization called “Trieu Dai Viet” (Viet Dynasty) that was founded and led by Ngo Van Hoang Hung, 68, who lives in Canada. Hung was given the death penalty, which was later reduced to life imprisonment in 1979 for “attempting to overthrow the administration”, but he fled to Canada.
In 2018, Hung sent Khanh VND144 million and CAD600 to operate the terrorism group in Vietnam.
Khanh used the money to buy five kilos of explosives and 20 detonators from Nguyen Trung Truc, who resided in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong. Khanh then sent the explosives and detonators, together with over seven kilos of explosives and 25 detonators he had purchased earlier to Duong Ba Giang from Dong Nai Province to create 10 remote-controlled explosive devices.
