Dog thieves who stole 16 dogs in one night in southern Vietnam sentenced to prison

The People's Court of Tay Ninh Region 5 on Thursday held a first-instance trial and sentenced Nguyen Quoc Khanh, 34, to 15 months in prison, and Tran Van Tuan Tai, 31, to nine months in prison for theft.

Meanwhile, Vu Thi Thu Hong, 39, was sentenced to one year in prison and fined an additional VND5 million (US$189.72) for handling property obtained through criminal activity.

According to the indictment, on the evening of November 11, 2025, Tai visited Khanh's rented room in Cho Lach Commune, Vinh Long Province, for drinks.

Khanh asked Tai to rent a self-drive four-seat car for a dog-stealing trip, and Tai agreed.

Tai then contacted a rental service and claimed he needed the car for travel purposes.

Khanh disabled the vehicle's dash camera, and together with Tai picked up Nguyen Minh Trung at a coffee shop in Tan An Ward, Tay Ninh Province, to join the operation.

The group prepared a homemade electric stun gun fitted with a pointed tip and connected to an electric shock device.

They then attached a fake license plate to the car and drove around roads in Tay Ninh and Dong Thap, hunting and stealing dogs.

Within a single night, from late November 24 to the early hours of November 25, 2025, the group managed to steal 16 dogs.

Later that same morning, Trung contacted Hong and the group brought the stolen dogs to her in Long An Ward, Tay Ninh Province, to sell them.

Although she knew the dogs had gunshot marks from the theft operation and were already dead, Hong still agreed to buy them at VND40,000 ($15.18) per kilogram.

In total, she purchased all 16 dogs, weighing 325 kilograms, for VND13 million ($493.27).

After the pet owners reported the thefts and security camera footage was reviewed, Tay Ninh police quickly launched an investigation and arrested the defendants.

Trung, however, fled and remains at large. Authorities separated his case from the others for later handling.