HANOI – Vietnam police said on Feb 24 they had arrested 21 people allegedly involved in a money-laundering ring that moved US$78.5 million (S$104.8 million) of criminal cash between the South-east Asian country and neighbouring Cambodia.
The detainees – all Vietnamese from southern Dong Nai province and some northern provinces – were nabbed mid-February, police in Dong Nai province said in an online statement.
The gang, which had a woman ringleader, had “transferred money amounting 2,000 billion dong (S$104.8 million) for gambling and online fraud for a cross-border organisation headquartered in Cambodia” since July 2024, police said.
They had set up 30 companies and made 150 business bank accounts to transfer and legalise money that had been obtained through fraud or gambling, the police said.
In January, Vietnam police arrested five people and smashed a similar cross-border money laundering ring worth 30,000 billion dong.
In October, Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan was jailed for life on money laundering charges, although she is appealing the verdict.
The property developer had already been handed the death penalty for fraud totalling US$27 billion in a separate case. AFP
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