Warrant issued for head of Vietnamese theft ring

Police have obtained an arrest warrant for a Vietnamese woman they have identified as the leader of a theft ring suspected of having Vietnam Airlines crew members smuggle overseas cosmetics and other items stolen from stores in Japan, police said.

Following the December arrest of a Vietnam Airlines copilot on suspicion of carrying stolen goods through customs for resale on Vietnam's black market, a joint investigation headquarters established by 14 prefectural police forces, including the Yamaguchi, Saitama and Hyogo forces, identified the 34-year-old woman, a native of Ho Chi Minh City, as the ringleader.

The police obtained the arrest warrant for the woman on suspicion she knowingly received and sold stolen goods, according to the police. Investigators plan to request Vietnamese police cooperation via Interpol.

The copilot, Dang Xuan Hop, has been indicted on suspicion of transporting stolen goods. Dang, 33, reportedly told police in questioning, "I was paid by the woman, as were many of my colleagues."

The police rearrested the copilot Wednesday and plan to investigate the involvement of other crew members.

According to an investigation source, the ringleader and Dang conspired to buy 27 stolen video tapes worth about 10,000 yen from a Vietnamese couple living in Mitaka, western Tokyo, in late January last year. The couple have been found guilty of selling and receiving stolen goods.

The Vietnamese theft ring allegedly shoplifted the tapes from a drugstore in Gunma Prefecture several days earlier and sold them to a Vietnamese general store in Isesaki in the prefecture. The store sent them to the couple. Payment for the tapes was transferred from another general store in the prefecture to the ring.

The couple's testimony revealed that the Vietnamese ringleader had ordered the transfer of funds by fax.

The investigation found that the ringleader had specified to Vietnamese general stores across the country the types and volumes of products to steal.

Investigators also seized delivery slips and faxes with instructions to send the items to airline crew members. The names and addresses of about 50 crew members were written on the confiscated documents.

Investigators believe the ringleader paid Dang and other crew members to smuggle the stolen items overseas.

Hand luggage inspections at immigration are more lenient on crew members than passengers.

The ringleader is believed to be a member of a Vietnamese organized crime syndicate, and records show that she visits Japan several times a year. Her whereabouts have been unknown since the copilot's arrest in December.

The ringleader is suspected of selling Japanese cosmetics, which are popular with women in Vietnam, and medicines on the black market there.

Dang is suspected of receiving the stolen tapes through a home delivery service at a hotel used by Vietnam Airlines crew members in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture. He allegedly passed through customs inspection at Kansai Airport with the tapes in his hand luggage