Police arrest death-row inmates following Hanoi prison break

The inmates, Le Van Tho and Nguyen Van Tinh, had been reported missing from their cell at the T16 detention center, run by the Ministry of Public Security, since September 10.

Tho was arrested at around 5:00 pm on September 16 near a market in Hai Duong’s Nam Sach District.

Plain-clothes police officers reportedly ambushed a taxi that Tho was in, dragged him out of the vehicle and had the man handcuffed and blindfolded before escorting him away in a black car.

Meanwhile, Tinh was arrested at around 1:15 am on September 17 while trying to seek refuge in a cave in Hoa Binh’s Mai Chau District, the Ministry of Public Security’s senior police chief Tran Van Ve confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper nearly an hour later.

Despite Tinh’s resistance, he was swiftly put under control by experienced officers and escorted to the T16 detention center during the night, Ve said.

Tinh, 28, was sentenced to death by the People’s Court of Hanoi in April for his involvement in a narcotics ring. 

His previous offense was harboring or consuming property acquired through the commission of crime by others.

Tho, 37, received the death penalty in May when the People’s Court of Ha Nam Province in northern Vietnam found him guilty of dealing in narcotics, murder, and property appropriation. 

His past convictions included murder, kidnapping for ransom, illegal use of military firearms, bribery, robbery, and property appropriation.

The two had been held in the same solitary confinement at the T16 detention center in Hanoi’s rural Thanh Oai District while awaiting execution.

Initial investigation reports showed that the two prisoners had managed to break their shackles while correctional officers were not paying attention, and dug a hole to tunnel their way out of the cell at midnight last Sunday.

A criminal investigation has also been launched into negligence and dereliction of correctional officers at the jailhouse that had led to the dangerous criminals’ escape.