An old woman arrives at an illegal gambling den hidden behind a garment shop near the Cua Heo intersection in Dong Nai Province’s Long Khanh Town.
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| Lieutenant-colonel Vo Minh Thanh speaks with the youth in Dong Nai Province’s Long Khanh Town. |
An old woman arrives at an illegal gambling den hidden behind a garment shop near the Cua Heo intersection in
She is allowed in after some interrogation by a heavy-set guard at the entrance.
Later, the woman turns out to be a male cop who catches several gamblers red-handed as they bet on card games.
It was one of many accomplishments that 44-year-old Vo Minh Thanh, chief of police in Xuan Trung Ward in the town, has recorded in a career spanning almost three decades.
Seven years after he joined the police force in 1982 when he was 17 years old, he was appointed vice chief of police of the town’s Xuan Hoa Commune.
Just three months into the position, he was given an undercover assignment to uncover an illegal logging suspect hiding in a local forest.
To ensure absolute secrecy of the investigation, he and three other policemen were dismissed by an official decision by the town police so they could become illegal loggers.
Thanh says his family was very disappointed when he was sacked, but he couldn’t let them know because of the nature of the work.
“My mother blamed me for being a disgrace to the family and said she was too ashamed to face others,” he said. “My adoptive mother encouraged me to find another job to make a living.”
Asking to be a porter for notorious illegal logger Hanh, he explained that it was an alcohol addiction that got him dismissed. Hanh only believed him after he showed the signed decision.
The four dismissed policemen had to suffer from mosquito bites, snakes, centipedes and leeches while staying in the forest for six months to hunt the gang.
However, said Thanh, the most dangerous part of the work was the possibility of being killed or seriously injured by military forces hunting an armed robber gang from nearby Binh Thuan Province, and could fire at any suspected sign.
He recalled a night when they had a providential escape from certain death when their hut was fired on by military forces who suspected it was the hiding place of the robbers.
“I felt uneasy and told others to hang hammocks to sleep outside,” he said. “The military force then fired at the hut at
After six months, the team was able to find the man they were looking for, Nguyen Van Tam, who had changed his name and was poaching wildlife. Provincial police managed to catch Tam using information collected by the team.
Thanh said his mothers cried in happiness when he resumed his position.
In 1991, he was assigned to be the deputy police chief of Dong Nai’s
One of his outstanding achievements in this position was that he persuaded a notorious gang leader in the Cho Cu area, involved in illegal protection and gambling scams, to give up his ways.
The gang leader insulted Thanh for hindering his illegal activities when they accidentally met at the death anniversary of a resident.
He even challenged Thanh to a sword fight later at a local stadium, saying he would quit the underworld if he lost.
Thanh, who told his men to stay away, came to the stadium and waited for two hours but the man didn’t turn up.
He phoned Thanh later and asked to meet up with him. He said he wanted to give up his ways, totally persuaded by the policeman.
In 2004, Thanh was assigned to be police chief of Xuan Trung Ward in
(Source: Thanhniennews)
