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T
he rise of crime in the month
preceding lunar new year is so
well known that the phenom-
enon has a specific name in Vi-
etnamese -
Thang Cu Mat
. This year,
however, the alarm bells are already
ringing, with a slew of muggers at-
tacking victims on the street. Ho Chi
Minh City saw a number of shocking
cases in November: a young man was
stabbed to death while struggling with
her assailant; a girl’s hand was cut while
resisting a gang; and a man was robbed
of his phone on his home’s front door
step, almost losing his hand in the act.
The list goes on.
“The number of people hospitalized
having been robbed has surged recent-
ly and the seriousness of the cases has
also risen,” said doctor Tran Thanh My,
director of Ho Chi Minh City Orthope-
dic Hospital. “Each day, we receive 3-4
cases, sometimes even 6-7. Each takes
an average of 3 -4 hours to treat, but in
serious cases, 8-9 hours of surgery are
required,”
Foreigners who travel to Vietnam
or come to the country for work are not
immune. On March 3, on the cross road
of Pham Ngu Lao and Nguyen Thi Nghia
streets in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1,
Anna Julia Urban, a German traveller,
was walking the streets when two men
riding a motorbike snatched her bag.
In September Kim Rooney, a
23-year-old tourist from Ireland, report-
ed that three local women grabbed her
handbag and attacked her. At around
4am one Sunday, Rooney left the Sail-
ing Club bar in Nha Trang after her
birthday party. On the way to her hotel,
three women grabbed the bag from
her hands. She fell to the ground. After
they found no money in the bag, she
said they physically assaulted her.
Hundreds of robberies of foreign-
ers have been reported by motels and
hotels. The Anh Duong Co., a local com-
pany that organises trips for Russian
tourists to Nha Trang, said at least six
tourists were robbed between Novem-
ber 3 and 16. To Dang Thanh Liem, an
officer at the Tay Ba Lo Motel (Back-
packers Motel), reported that seven for-
eigners staying at the motel have been
robbed since September.
Greg Harris is a financial consult-
ant from Ireland who moved to Viet-
nam one year ago. He told Timeout:
“One late afternoon when I was on my
way back home from a supermarket,
my eyes were dazzled by a motorbike’s
lights and my bag was robbed. I fell
down on the street. Even if I were 25
years younger, I would not dare to be
a backpacker in Vietnam.” Greg added
that the situation will badly affect the
image of Vietnam in the eyes of inter-
national tourists.
Major-general Phan Anh Minh, vice
director of Ho Chi Minh City Depart-
ment of Police, admits the number of
cases has risen since November 2012
and robbers are becoming more aggres-
sive and younger on average.
He blames rising crime on unem-
ployment, poverty, drug abuse and the
release of criminals from overloaded
prisons – all issues that stem from the
poor health of the economy.
At a meeting of Ho Chi Minh City
People’s Council, many solutions were
proposed to address the matter, such
as giving hot bonuses to those who ap-
prehend thieves; establishing the 141
speedy reacting force to suppress street
crimes and keep society in order; in-
Mean
streets
boiling point
ThebuzzofVietnam’sstreets isusuallyoneof thecountry’smostposi-
tive features, but as lunar new year approaches they are taking on a
decidedlydarker tonewhichisscaringsomeaway.
HongNhung
reports