Flare shooter in Hanoi - Nam Dinh football match arrested

By Viet Dung September 16, 2019 | 05:42 pm PT

A flare burns during the football match between Hanoi FC and Nam Dinh in Hanoi's Hang Day Stadium, September 11, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Lam Thoa.

Vu Trung Truc, 35, has been detained for smuggling flares into a stadium and disrupting public order, Hanoi’s Dong Da District police say.

They said Monday that Truc, a fan of the Nam Dinh football club, has admitted to buying and bringing two parachute flares and 18 normal flares to Hanoi on September 11. He purchased them online.

He gave away three flares to three people and sold six to another fan.

Truc hid two parachute flares and six normal flares in a speaker and took them into the Hang Day Stadium.

Vu Trung Truc at the police station. Photo courtesy of Dong Da District police.

Vu Trung Truc is held at a police station in Hanoi's Dong Da District for shooting flare at a recent football match, September 16, 2019. Photo courtesy of Dong Da Police.

About 8:10 p.m., Truc shot a flare which travelled across the field and hit Hanoi FC fan To Huyen Anh. Anh's leg burned to the bone and she's had to undergo surgery twice.

Match organizers said that after Truc shot the flare, many Nam Dinh fans continued to light up flares on stand B. When police officers came to control the crowd, some fans attacked them. Two officers were hospitalized.

Tran Dac Chuong, 18, of Nam Dinh, has been detained for punching and kicking an officer three times.

After the incident, football authorities ruled that Hanoi FC will have to play the rest of their home matches this season without their fans cheering them on.

Nam Dinh’s fans have also been banned from going to the club's two remaining away games this season.

The clubs were fined VND85 million ($3,700) each by the Vietnam Football Federation.