Asia-Pacific News
Fake journalist detained on blackmail charge in Vietnam
Nov 11, 2009, 4:06 GMT
Hanoi - Police in Ho Chi Minh City have arrested a man who posed as a journalist to blackmail a customs officer, a police official said Wednesday.
Mai Van Tan, director of the city's Department of Social Order Crime Investigations, said police arrested Nguyen Quang Minh, 29, when he showed up at a pre-arranged drop point to collect the blackmail payment.
Minh allegedly sent text messages to a customs official at the port of Cat Lai, claiming to be a journalist for the news website VnExpress and threatened to publicize evidence of bribery unless he was paid 2,700 dollars.
Minh claimed to possess video clips and voice recordings in which the official accepted bribes from import-export companies.
The state-run Vietnam News said none of the recordings police seized from Minh contained incriminating information about the customs officer.
Minh had apparently gained some knowledge of the customs department while working for a delivery company that handled imported goods. Vietnamese media have recently run several articles detailing corruption at the Cat Lai port.
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