Police in the city of Ha Long in northern Vietnam’s Quang Ninh province Friday arrested a man from Ho Chi Minh City after he attempted to rob a local bank with a backpack believed to contain bombs.
At about 2 p.m. Friday, the man in question entered the Bai Chay branch of the Vietcombank in Ha Long City and shouted that there were bombs in the red backpack he was carrying, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
“I have two bombs, give me the money or I’ll blow it up,” a witness told the robber.
The man then climbed onto the counter and tried to break through a glass barrier, but failed.
When the siren went off, he was startled and ran to the gate of the establishment, where he was quickly checked by the bank’s security forces and the local police.
Police officers then identified the robber as Tran Minh Quang, who lives in Ho Chi Minh City and holds a student ID at a university in the United States.
Before running away, the man took a cell phone from a receptionist at the bank branch.
Specialized police later checked and determined that there were no bombs in the man’s backpack, while the robber was taken to police headquarters for further investigation.
