Hanoi (VNA) ꧒– The terrorist organization Viet Tan has made use of the complicated developments in the East Sea to deploy its schemes of systematic terrorist activities designed to sabotage Vietnam.

What is Viet Tan

In 1981, Hoang Co Minh, a former vice admiral of the old Sai Gon puppetry regime, set up a so call National United Front for the Liberation of Viet Nam (NUFLV), with the aim of carrying out armed and terror activities against Vietnam. In 1982, Minh established Viet Tan, which has its headquarters and many branches in foreign countries. Viet Tan is the brain of the NUFLV, and all members of the NUFLV are also members of Viet Tan.

Systematic terrorist activities

After its establishment, Viet Tan has recruited members and trained them in using weapons and explosives as well as in conducting sabotaging or kidnapping. It organized several campaigns to send groups of armed men (totaling 246 men) from Thailand to Vietnam via Laos and Cambodia with the aim of setting up “secret bases”, instigating disturbance and conducting terrorist activities. However, their schemes were stopped and neutralized by competent forces of Vietnam and Laos. Viet Tan even set up a death squad named K9 led by the organisation’s key members to assassinate its critics. Several journalists of Vietnamese origin had been targeted because they published articles exposing Viet Tan’s cheating, such as Duong Trong Lam, editor-in-chief of the “Cai dinh lang” newspaper in San Francisco and Nguyen Dam Phong, founder of the “Tu do” newspaper in Houston. At present, Do Hoang Diem, a US citizen of Vietnamese origin born 1963, is chairman of Viet Tan and its secretary general is Ly Thai Hung, also a US citizen of Vietnamese origin born in 1953. Viet Tan continues to recruit and train members and send them to Vietnam to incite disorder and disturbance, kidnap and murder hostages. The organization also took members in Vietnam abroad for training, or held online training courses on forms and methods of terrorism and sabotage, as well as publicized on the internet methods to make petrol bombs for terrorist activities. Recently, Viet Tan took advantage of hot issues of public concern in Vietnam related to the environment, religious affairs and corruption to distort the situation in Vietnam. For example, it spread false information on social media on the fire at the Rang Dong Rang Dong Light Source and Vacuum Flask Joint Stock Company or the incident at the Song Da Water Plant, with the aim of undermine the public’s trust in the Party and State of Vietnam. Their higher goal is to demand the abolition of Article 4 of the Constitution on the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Timely stopping Viet Tan’s terrorist activities

With high vigilance, Vietnam’s competent forces have timely intercepted many terrorist attempts and brought the culprits to justice. In one such case, a group of Viet Tan members were arrested and put on trial in May 2008. The group comprised of Nguyen Hai, Nguyen Ngoc Duc, Nguyen Quoc Quan, Nguyen Thi Thanh Van and Truong Leon, who infiltrated into Vietnam in 2007 to instruct local members to distribute leaflets inciting demonstrations and violence. In another case, Pham Minh Hoang, a Viet Tan member in France, arrived in Vietnam and became a contracted lecturer of a university in Ho Chi Minh City. Hoang wrote 33 articles misrepresenting policies and guidelines of the Vietnamese Party and Sate and sent them to Viet Tan for publishing on the internet. Hoang had to stand trial in 2011 for his violations of law. Between August 2009 to November 2011, Viet Tan arranged for 17 members in Vietnam to go to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and the US to receive training by it leaders. Those members were arrested when they returned to Vietnam on August 2, 2011.

Most recently, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s court held a first-instance trial of six defendants on the charges of “conducting terrorism against the people's ꦦadministration” and “forging seals and documents of agencies/organisations.” Investigations showed Chau Van Kham, a Vietnamese Australian and member of Viet Tan, entered Cambodia and then used a forged ID card under the name of Chung Chinh Phi to enter Vietnam. When in Vietnam, Kham recruited Nguyen Van Vien. The police also uncovered another Viet Tan member Tran Van Quyen, who made false documents and placed jobs for Viet Tan members. Quyen and Vien also participated in Viet Tan’s training camp in Cambodia.

Based on the dangerous activities of Viet Tan, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security classified Viet Tan as a terrorist organization on October 4, 2016./.

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