Police probe blackmail of officials from congressional delegations' offices

Several officials of the National Assembly delegations' offices from the central provinces of Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam and Ha Tinh, northern Bac Giang province and Hanoi have received death threats via text messages delivered from the same anonymous sender.

At least seven officials of the National Assembly delegations' offices have been subjected to the threats.

Police said the messages had the same content, saying the sum of VND100 million ($4,400) has been offered to kill the officials. The message asks the recipients to transfer the same amount of money to a bank account in southern Vietnam, whereupon the identity of the hired killer would be revealed.  

How the blackmailer obtained the phone numbers of these officials is not known.

Colonel Hoang Long, head of the police department of Hue City under Thua Thien-Hue province, said initial investigations show the culprit had used an unregistered SIM card to send out the threatening messages. They are looking for the person or persons involved based on the bank account mentioned in the message.

According to Vietnam’s Penal Code, a person who sends death threats can be convicted if they cause the recipients undue concern or if there is evidence that they will carry out the threats.

Punishment ranges from three to seven years in jail.

Earlier this year, a court in the northern province of Bac Ninh sentenced a man to 3 years in prison for sending threatening messages to the provincial chairman and police chief after his company was restricted from river dredging over environmental concerns.

Last year, Dao Tan Cuong, vice director of the Da Nang branch of Petrolimex Aviation Fuel JSC, was sentenced up to 18 months in prison for sending threatening text messages to Da Nang’s former city chairman Huynh Duc Tho.