Police don’t rule out terror attacks in Ho Chi Minh City

The assessment was announced on Tuesday at a press conference organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Police to review the maintenance of security and order in the city in 2015.

Police do not rule out the probability of terror attacks based on the complicated situation at the moment, said Colonel Nguyen Sy Quang, the department’s chief of staff

The municipal police will deploy special units and equipment to defend important targets and essential locations and prevent them from being compromised, Col. Quang added.

Vu Nhu Ha, deputy chief of staff, affirmed that officers will tighten security and focus on certain offenses, including theft, robbery, burglary, organized crime, and others, during the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

About 6,004 cases of criminal offenses were committed in 2015, decreasing by 377 cases compared to the previous year, claiming 102 lives and injuring 712 people, with financial damage worth VND106.6 billion (US$4.74 million), Col. Quang said at the conference.

Officers in the southern city succeeded in dealing with 4,059 of the offenses, accounting for 67.6 percent, and arrested 4,670 suspects, several of whom were Chinese, Taiwanese and Nigerian, the colonel added.

A decline in the number of cases was also recorded last year in 10 out of 13 types of criminal offences, which were murder, theft, property appropriation, kidnapping, robbery, burglary, fraud and some others, he added.

Despite the drop, only 1,903 out of 3,416 theft cases were solved in 2015, according to Col. Quang.

Police could only close 50 percent of such cases as criminals have been becoming more professional and organized in their operations, said Colonel Le Ngoc Phuong, head of the Police Division of Criminal Investigation and Social Order.

Criminals often study their targets thoroughly and carefully erase their tracks after committing crimes, barring police from detecting them, Col. Phuong said.

The installment of security cameras in several residences has proved very effective as robbers always try to avoid showing their faces, making it difficult for officers to identify them.

It is advisable that civilians pay more attention to protecting their own properties, according to the colonel.

Crimes related to prostitution have also transformed into a subtler form which involves the use of the Internet, creating more obstacles for police to discover and investigate their wrongdoings, officers said at the conference.

Unlawful organizations often disguise themselves as modeling agencies, restaurants, beauty salons, and others, officers added.