Intellasia News Services -- HCM City cops arrest two murder suspects in taxi robbery

HCM City cops arrest two murder suspects in taxi robbery
Source: 04-SEP-2008 Intellasia | Thanhniennews
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
HCM City police Monday took into custody two men who allegedly killed a taxi driver and stole his cell phone along with 1 million dong (US$60).

At midnight last Sunday, 15-year-old Nguyen Hong Nhut and 24-year-old Tran Van Nghiep asked Vinasun taxi driver Nguyen Van Chi to take them from Thu Duc District to Alley 14 of Le Thuc Hoach Street in Tan Phu District.

When they arrived at the destination at around 1 a.m., Nghiep, sitting behind Chi, pressed a knife to the taxi driver's neck to subdue him.

Nhut repeatedly stabbed Chi's hip and belly areas with a knife until the driver collapsed on the steering wheel.

The teenager pilfered a cell phone and 1 million dong from Chi before escaping from the scene with Nghiep.

Around the same time, Tan Phu District police on a routine patrol saw two men with bloody clothes running from Alley 14 with residents chasing after them shouting "Robbers!"

Police and residents soon were able to apprehend the fleeing men.

Earlier on August 28, another Vinasun taxi driver, Le Van Khang, was attacked by a passenger on the way to Thu Duc District's Linh Trung Ward from Thu Duc Preventive Health Centre in Linh Tay Ward.

The passenger slashed Khang's neck with a knife but he fled after struggling with the driver.

Khang then drove himself to Quan Dan Mien Dong Hospital in neighbouring District 9.

Luong Van Mot, the hospital's director, said Khang could have died from severe blood loss if he had arrived at the hospital a few minutes later.

Police are still searching for Khang's attacker.