Man held for anaesthetizing, stealing from Viet Kieu man

January 14, 2014 | 10:09

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Police in Ho Chi Minh City have arrested a 49-year-old man who lured a Viet Kieu (expat Vietnamese) man into a hotel room to allegedly have sex, but in fact anaesthetized him and stole his assets.

Yesterday, police in HCMC’s Binh Tan District said they are detaining Xam Van Nghi, 49, of Bac Lieu Province, on charges of robbery.

Nghi was arrested at a room in Lac Hong Hotel in the district on January 9, 2014.

Nghi pleaded guilty to anaesthetizing his victim, J.T. Nguyen, 46, with the purpose of stealing his assets, including 1 laptop, a mobile phone, US$500 and VND4 million ($192) in cash, on December 4, 2013.

Local police said they are referring the case and handing Nghi over to city police as J. is a Vietnamese-American who is an English teacher in the city.

According to the case file, Mr. J reported to police in Binh Tan’s An Lac that he and Nghi had met in an Internet chat room.

On December 4, Nghi asked J to come to a local hotel room to have sex.

After drinking an iced coffee that Nghi gave him, J fell unconscious. When he recovered, he found his above-mentioned assets gone.

J then had one of his friends pretend to be a homosexual and chat online with Nghi, who later suggested J’s friend meet him at L.H Hotel on January 9, 2014.

After watching his friend enter the hotel with Nghi, J reported Nghi to police, requesting that they arrest him.

Upon arrest, Nghi confessed to police that he had anaesthetized J with five sleeping pills mixed into the coffee on December 4.

With the same tricks, Nghi had carried out many similar cases in the city, police said.