The People’s Court of Hanoi on June 19 brought 57 defendants to trial for their alleged involvement in the biggest gambling case in the northern region in many years.

They were found guilty of the offence, after the Court heard that at 13:00 on March 14, criminal and local police in Hanoi ’s outskirt district of Soc Son uncovered a large-scale gambling den in Tan Dan commune, arrested 68 people and seized more than 600 million VND. In addition, 26 handbags containing more than 500 million VND were also taken, and a gun and ammunition were found.

The investigation discovered that the gamblers had been meeting from mid-February last year. It was organised by Nguyen Van Tu, Le Xuan Huong, Dang Ba Hoa and Nguyen Ba Tan.

The police also searched the house of Tu, who was said to be the mastermind, and seized 1.3 billion VND, 7,000 USD, a gun with five bullets and 20 machetes.

Tan was sentenced to combined 54 months’ imprisonment for gambling and organising gambling, while Hoa received 24 months jail for organising gambling. The police are still hunting Tu and Huong.

Probationary sentences have been handed down to 22 of the defendants, while the remainder will serve prison terms of 15-30 months.-VNA