Two men have been sentenced to a combined 39 years in prison for robbing a guesthouse owner of more than 16 taels (about 600 grams) of gold jewelry in Hanoi city, Vietnam.
According to court documents, the two became acquainted through social media, Vietnamese investigators.
After discovering that the victim regularly wore a large amount of gold jewelry and lived alone, they carefully planned the robbery.
They chose to target her at the guesthouse she owned and operated.
On the evening of April 23, 2025, the pair checked into the guesthouse as customers. Later that night, they called the owner to their room, claiming there was a problem with the plumbing.
As soon as she entered, they attacked her with an electric stun baton, covered her mouth to prevent her from calling for help, and forcibly removed all of the gold jewelry she was wearing. They also stole her mobile phone before fleeing the scene.
After the robbery, the suspects divided the stolen gold and sold it at several jewelry stores.
The sales brought in more than VND 1.4 billion (about US$55,000), which they used to pay off debts and cover personal expenses.
During the trial, the victim testified that the stolen jewelry weighed more than 16 taels and was valued at over VND 1.9 billion (around US$75,000).
Because the jewelry had already been melted down and could not be recovered, the court ordered the two defendants to compensate the victim with cash.
Private investigators in Vietnam, https://vietnamdetective.com