3 Thai nationals arrested in Japan for killing Vietnamese student

By VnExpress March 5, 2017 | 12:58 am PT

People sit on stools outside a Japanese pub-style restaurant at a business district in Tokyo, Japan, April 30, 2015. Photo by Reuters/Yuya Shino

One of the Thai suspects allegedly stabbed the Vietnamese man in the back as he arrived at the scene of a dispute.

Police in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture have arrested three Thai nationals for stabbing to death a Vietnamese man in Choshi City in February, the Tokyo Reporter news site reported on Saturday, quoting Japanese TV station Asahi.

The three suspects are accused of killing Nguyen Dinh Lien, 21, on a street in the Shimizu area early on December 25 last year.

Groups of Vietnamese and Thai nationals had been involved in dispute at a local restaurant prior to the incident. One of the Thai suspects allegedly stabbed Lien in the back as the Vietnamese man arrived at the scene to help his friends, according to local police.

The investigation is ongoing.

Lien came from Vietnam's central province of Ha Tinh. He had been a student in Japan since 2014, Vietnamese media reported.

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