Gang arrested in HCMC for stealing car mirrors

Tran Anh Tuan, 28, Cao Van Thong, 31, and their respective girlfriends Huynh Ngoc Ai, 24, and Nguyen Thi Thanh Vy, 27, face charges of “appropriation of property.”

The police also arrested two other men, Trang Sy Uyen and Vo Van Viet, both 48, for “harboring or consuming property acquired through the commission of crime by other persons.”

From top L to bottom R: Cao Van Thong, Tran Anh Tuan, Trang Sy Uyen and Vo Van Viet at the time they were arrested. Photo by police

They said Tuan was the mastermind of the gang.

He, Thong and their girlfriends would go around the city looking for unguarded cars, rip their mirrors out and sell them to a garage on Dinh Bo Linh Street in Binh Thanh District.

The police busted the gang late last month after catching Tuan red-handed while he was stealing from a car in Binh Tan District.

Rear-view mirrors seized from a garage in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District believed to have been stolen from unguarded cars by the gang. Photo by police

They then raided the garage and seized nearly 300 mirrors believed to have been stolen by Tuan’s gang.

They identified Uyen and Viet as fences who bought stolen mirrors.

New mirrors cost VND1.5 million – VND3.5 million (US$62-142) each on the market.