Bird flu, cattle epidemic put under control
Bird flu epidemic and diseases in farm animals including blue-ear and foot-and-mouth in pigs and cattle have been put under control in most localities nationwide during the last two weeks.
Recently in central provinces of Quang Nam and Thua-Thien Hue, there have been groups of foreigners who pretend to buy from locals in order to rob them.
Last Friday, police seized three Iranians who robbed VND30 million (US$1,500) at a petrol station in Hoi An City, a famous tourist site in Quang Nam.
On December 1, Lalia Mostafa (24), Farhad Hosseininasbardi (27) and Setoodeh Mohamad Shiraz (28) of Iranian nationality drove a car to Song Lai petrol station on Vinh Dien Street, Hoi An city to buy motor oil.
Farhad handed a VND500,000 bill and asked a staff to give him back the VND200,000 change.
Not having the right banknote, the staff took the three inside to meet his manager Tran Van Ban while their car’s engine was still on.
Farhad pretended to take the staff to a motor oil shelf and ask for more information while the other two waited for Ban to give them the change.
When Ban took out a stack of VND30 million to find the right change, Lalia suddenly grabbed Ban’s money and the three quickly jumped on their car and drove off to Hanoi.
On receiving reports, police in Quang Nam Province contacted police in Da Nang, Thua Thien-Hue to trace down the criminals. The three Iranians were stopped by traffic police when they arrived in Thua Thien-Hue Province.
At the station, the foreigners told the police that they arrived in Vietnam last August and hired a car in Ho Chi Minh City at $90 a day to carry out their robbery plan.
Similarly, a group of four foreigners also used the same technique and robbed more than VND5 million ($250) at a spice stall in Cau Hai market in Thua Thien- Hue province last Friday.
According to Bach Thi Kim Chi (38), the group of foreigners including two men, a woman and a child came to her shop to buy salt, pepper and MSGs and handed her a VND500,000 bill.
When Chi took out VND5 million from her bag to pay, the four grabbed her money, ran away and quickly disappeared in the crowd.
People in the market that day saw them sneaking onto a black Innova car and driving off, probably to Hue City.
Police in Phu Loc district in Thua Thien-Hue are tracing these alien criminals.