Vietnam jails 3 Russian men for ATM theft
A court in the central province of Khanh Hoa on August 31 handed down jail sentences against three Russian men for using fake bank cards to steal US$13,180 worth of cash from local ATMs last year.
Viacheslav Kotets, 30, got six years and Bondarenko Yury, 44, six and a half years. They were found guilty of theft.
Their accomplice, Aleksei Troian, 33, was sentenced to six and a half years with additional charges of attempting to escape detention.
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| The defendants stand trial in Nha Trang on August 31. |
Troian was caught on October 27 last year when withdrawing money using a fake card at an ATM in the resort town of Nha Trang. The other two were arrested later.
Investigators found that the trio had arrived in Vietnam on tourist visas and that they had used fake cards to steal more than VND294 million (US$13,180) from several ATMs in Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City.
In their hotel rooms, police found 278 fraudulent credit cards, VND247 million in dong, a large amount of cash in other currencies, a card reader and a laptop.
While in detention in Nha Trang, Troian attempted to flee by using a plastic spoon and two toothbrushes to dig a hole in the wall.
He somehow managed to get out of his cell on February 12 but was caught before he could leave the detention center.
