Two arrested for sending blackmail threats to officials

Police from the Ministry of Public Security Friday arrested Ngo Xuan Tung and Le Van Thanh, both 30, for questioning.

At least seven members from the National Assembly Delegation Office of several provinces and cities had reported receiving text messages from the same anonymous sender.

Officers said all the messages had the same content: that VND100 million ($4,400) had been offered to kill the official getting the message, and if they transfer the amount to a bank in southern Vietnam, the identity of the person who ordered the hits would be revealed.

Ngo Xuan Tung, 30, is held at a police station for sending death threats and blackmail messages to Vietnamese government officials. Photo courtesy by rhe Ministry of Public Security

The police have not yet released any information about how the blackmailers obtained the phone numbers of the officials or how they tracked them down.

A person sending death threats can be imprisoned for up to seven years.

Earlier this year a court in the northern province of Bac Ninh sentenced a man to three years for sending threatening messages to the province chairman and police chief after his company was prevented from dredging a river due to environmental concerns.

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