Chinese man jailed for stealing cash on flight to Saigon

Ren Dao Jun, 48, committed the theft on a VietJet flight on September 1 last year. A fellow passenger, An, was asleep when Jun stole cash that he had kept in his bag stowed in the luggage rack.

Two other passengers found Jun rummaging among others' bag and informed attendants. As the attendants approached him, Jun retreated and sat next to the sleeping An, two rows from where he was supposed to sit.

After waking up, An found that he had lost the money stored in his luggage. Flight attendants later found that Jun had taken the money.

Jun did not plead guilty at the trial. He claimed instead that he had found the cash on the floor and picked it up. He only informed the crew about the cash he found after the plane landed due to language barriers, he said. He had switched to a seat next to An because that seat was empty, he added.

The court rejected Jun's contention on the basis of statements by An and other witnesses and sentenced the culprit to jail.

Stealing aboard flights in Vietnam is not rare. National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines reported 20 cases in the first seven months of last year, and VietJet Air, 11, according to the Ministry of Transport. Many of the culprits caught were Chinese.