27 people get jail terms for smuggling 6 tons of gold

Nguyen Thi Minh Phung, 43, and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Giau, 44, got 18 years each for smuggling, and Giau’s sister, Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong, 39, got 15 years.

Their 21 accomplices were sentenced to between four and 12 years in jail.

The court also ordered the accused to pay the equivalent of the smuggled gold, VND8.5 trillion (US$334.9 million), to the government treasury.

Phung was the ringleader who directly carried out negotiations related to the smuggling, Giau was a key henchman and the others were assigned various other tasks.

Nguyen Thi Kim Phung at a court in HCMC, July 19, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Phung used to be a gold shop employee, and so knew many people in the business in HCMC, Tay Ninh Province and Cambodia. Tay Ninh borders the other two places.

In early 2022 Phung and Phuong saw gold prices were in Vietnam higher than in Cambodia and so linked up with Giau and the others to form two gangs that smuggled gold into Vietnam.

Phung led one of them and she and Giau would buy gold from shops in a Phnom Penh market, store it in hidden compartments under consignments of ice, and bring it through the Chang Riec border gate.

The vehicles would reach an ice factory in Tan Bien District in Tay Ninh Province owned by Giau and her son, and she would divide the gold among several people who would carry it to Phung in HCMC.

In August and September 2022 Phung smuggled in 4,830 kg of gold in this manner and sold it to several gold shops and individuals.

The second gang was led by Phuong, who, along with a Cambodian named Pich Hen would buy and bring the gold in the same manner into Vietnam as Phung.

Authorities said Phuong’s ring had smuggled in 1,320 kg of gold between July and September 2022.