HCMC – The Dong Nai Police Department seized two more 1,500-ton vessels, Nhat Minh 07 and Nhat Minh 09, as part of a ring that mixed and sold over 200 million liters of fake fuel in the province and other parts of southern Vietnam.
The suspects used the two vessels to transport the fake fuel, the local media reported.
On February 6, while being chased by the police, they controlled the two vessels to crash into the ships of the law enforcement agencies and escaped. They later repainted the vessels to dodge the police chase.
However, they were detected while anchoring the ships at a wharf on the Hau River in An Cong Hamlet, An Lac Tay Commune, Ke Sach District, Soc Trang Province.
The police have also prosecuted two sailors of Nhat Minh 07 vessel and a machinist of Nhat Minh 09 vessel over alleged charges of smuggling.
Thus, the Dong Nai Police Department filed charges against 37 people for their alleged involvement in the ring.
On February 6, more than 500 police officers divided into 14 groups launched snap inspections into storehouses, gas stations, workplaces and the houses of those allegedly involved in the ring in Dong Nai, Can Tho, Vinh Long, Long An, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and HCMC.
The police seized two 1,500-ton vessels, five barges, six tank trucks, 2.68 million liters of fuels, four barrels of chemicals, more than VND100 billion, 50 land use rights certificates and 12 cartons of documents.
According to the initial results of an investigation, the ring provided an average of over one million liters of fake fuel a day to the market. Since August 2020, more than 200 million liters of fake fuel had been sold.
