The police in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam, announced the successful crackdown on a transnational money laundering criminal gang, arresting 23 suspects. Among them, 29-year-old Phan Thi Be and 27-year-old Le Van Diep, both residents of Ha Tinh Province, were identified as the main organizers of the gang.
According to the investigation, Le Van Diep entered Cambodia through the Moc Bai border gate in October 2023 and worked at a gaming company in Bavet City, Svay Rieng Province, responsible for managing the company's online gambling department. After working for a month, he resigned in November 2023 and returned to Vietnam. During this period, he met a Chinese man who called himself Billy, the owner of the gaming company, who proposed a money laundering partnership to Le Van Diep, promising to pay a commission of 0.1% of the laundered amount.
After returning to Vietnam, Le Van Diep contacted Phan Thi Be and reached a profit-sharing agreement: Phan Thi Be would take 70%, and Le Van Diep would take 30%. They then started their money laundering activities. Phan Thi Be was responsible for recruiting personnel, opening numerous bank accounts, and providing them to Le Van Diep, who communicated with Billy via Telegram to provide these account details.
Daily, Billy would transfer large sums of money into these accounts and provide QR codes, instructing the gang members to quickly transfer the funds to designated accounts to evade regulation.
By February 2024, Le Van Diep went to Da Lat City in Lam Dong Province, continuing the money laundering activities with Phan Thi Be and 21 other members in a rented house. On the morning of March 12, the Lam Dong Provincial Police and Da Lat City Police launched a joint operation, raiding the hideout and arresting 23 suspects on the spot.
According to Le Van Diep's confession, since joining Billy's money laundering network, he had provided about 100 bank accounts, with daily laundering amounts reaching 200 to 300 billion Vietnamese dong. Currently, the police have detained all suspects and are further investigating the case to trace the flow of funds and identify more involved parties.
