Australian gangland murder suspect arrested in Vietnam

Jun 10, 2008, 7:56 GMT

Hanoi - A Vietnamese-born Australian man wanted for the 2006 murder of a reputed gangland rival in Australia was in jail awaiting extradition Tuesday after being captured last month by Vietnamese police, a Vietnamese Interpol officer said.

Lee Hoang Thanh, 47, was arrested May 28 in the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau and is being held in a detention facility in Ho Chi Minh City while police wait for Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security to order him extradited, said an officer with Vietnam's branch of Interpol who requested anonymity.

According to Vietnamese press reports Tuesday, Thanh was arrested in Xeo Ngang, the small village in the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau where he was born in 1961. He had been hiding there under the assumed name of Le Hung Em.

Thanh was reportedly sought for the January 15, 2006, murder of another Vietnamese-Australian man, Duong Van Son, who was killed in the Australian state of Victoria after being kidnapped and having his hand cut off. Vietnamese press said Thanh fled several days after the murder to Ho Chi Minh City with an associate named Thang, who later returned to Australia and was killed by associates of Son.

Vietnamese press described the killings as an underworld gang vendetta.

Victoria police headquarters in Australia declined to confirm details of the case but said an officer, Detective Sergeant Charlie Bezzina, was currently in Vietnam for Lee's extradition hearing.