Vietnam busts illegal international telephone gangs

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday October 11, 2006

Hanoi- Police in the northern Vietnamese city of Haiphong said Wednesday that ten people they have arrested for offering cut-price telephone calls over the internet could face life imprisonment. "These people were caught red-handed while illegally providing international telephone service," said Nguyen Trung Kien, the head of the Economic Security Unit of the city's police department.

Mr Kien said the police raided seven buildings in the centre of the city, seizing 31 computers, 20 telephones and other equipment.

According to the police, the businesses were allowing people to make a local call to a computer which could then be routed over the internet to an international number.

"We estimate that these offices cause a loss of 3 billion Vietnamese Dong (187,000 dollars) to the city's post office system every month," Mr Kien said.

Mr Kien said that penalties for such abuse are strong.

"The arrested people will be charged with stealing telecoms charges and may face life sentences," he said.

Vietnam's international call charges used to be notoriously high although they have fallen recently. The current cost of a one-minute call to the United States from Vietnam is 58 cents.

But Mr Kien said that the Haiphong businesses were offering international calls for about 2 cents per minute.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency