(PLO)- The defendant, the owner of a gold shop, confessed that he did not know Muoi Tuong’s group and the people in Cambodia and did not smuggle gold; The defendant, who is the owner of a shop in Chau Doc, said that he only transshipped to receive wages.
On February 17, the People’s Court of An Giang province entered the fifth day of the trial of smuggling boss Nguyen Thi Kim Hanh (also known as Muoi Tuong) and 24 accomplices in the case of smuggling 51kg of gold and illegally transporting currency.
Specifically, the defendants were tried for two crimes, which are smuggling and illegal transportation of goods and currency across the border.
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Defendants in court. Photo: HD |
In court, defendant Pham Tan Loc claimed that Loc was a driver for Hanh’s family. It was not until September 2020 that she joined the shipping line for Hanh. “Hanh asked the defendant to continue working for Ut Manh and Ut Manh assigned the defendant to collect money at gold shops. The contact with the gold shop is through the defendant Phan introduced. Still have not received payment. Hanh is the leader and assigns the work to Ut Manh” – Defendant Loc said.
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| Defendant Pham Tan Loc |
Defendant Truong Thai Nguyen (owner of Truong Hung gold shop) did not admit to smuggling but said that he only served as a transit place and received wages from Tuot. Specifically, when Tran Thi Thao Trang (owner of Thao Kim Thanh gold shop in Ho Chi Minh City) gives USD money (packaged), Nguyen will take a picture of the quantity and send it to Tuot;
At the same time, it was assigned to the Muoi Tuong group to bring to Cambodia and give it to Tuot. After that, Hanh’s group received the gold and handed it back to Nguyen, and Nguyen handed it over to Trang’s staff. Trang’s staff will “burn out” (remove the letters printed on gold) on the spot and then bring it back to Ho Chi Minh City and give it to Trang.
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| Defendant Truong Thai Nguyen |
Nguyen also declared that the amount of gold he was caught in the act planned to bring back and deliver to Nguyen for Nguyen to deliver to Trang.
However, defendant Trang did not admit to knowing Tuat and did not know Hanh’s group. Trang admitted to doing business with Nguyen. The amount of 3.2 million USD was bought by the defendant from Ta Thi Thu Nga (Hai Phong) and sold to Nguyen to enjoy the difference, regarding 32 million VND.
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| Defendant Tran Thi Thao Trang |
Defendant also intended to buy 31kg of gold from Nguyen but might not reach an agreement and was also informed that there was no gold. Defendant Nguyen denied that there was no sale of USD as Trang said.
As for the removal of letters printed on gold, Trang claimed that a comrade (Mr. H. from the Economic Police Department) told the defendant not to sell goods with words because it was foreign goods and might not be sold in Vietnam. Therefore, Nguyen had to erase the words on the gold before handing it over to Trang.
The court will resume the trial on February 20.
The case of smuggling 51kg of gold: The ‘boss’ Muoi Tuong said just helping
(PLO)- Muoi Tuong admitted to helping but not the mastermind while the group of defendants at the gold shop said it was not related to the boss’s line.
HAI DUONG
