8 arrested in bombing of police station in Vietnam

Dust and debris scatter at a police station in HCMC after two bomb blasts on June 20.

Blasts at a police station happened soon after nationwide protests against law on Special Economic Zones.
Ho Chi Minh City Police on Thursday arrested and initiated criminal proceedings against eight people for their alleged involvement in explosions at a police station in Tan Binh District last month.

Among the eight are Vu Hoang Nam, 22, Nguyen Tuan Thanh, 28 and Thanh’s father Nguyen Khanh, 54.

The three men and another unidentified accomplice would face charges of terrorism. The others would be held responsible for providing the explosives. Terrorism is punishable by death in Vietnam.

Police said the group was working for a resistant organization in the U.S.

The arrest came after Tan Binh Disrict police investigated camera footage of two men who passed the Ward 12 police station on Truong Chinh Street just before it was rocked by a couple of explosions in the afternoon of June 20.

One female officer was injured in the blasts and several motorbikes in the building were damaged.

Police said the suspects were arrested while hiding in Dong Nai Province neighboring the city. They are looking for three more suspects in the bombing.

They have seized 38 detonators, eight hand-made bombs and 10 kilograms of explosives from the group which were allegedly planned for attacks at several other police stations and officials' houses.

"The consequences could have been huge," HCMC's Party leader Nguyen Thien Nhan said at a press briefing on Thursday afternoon.

The incident took place at a tense time, only several days after there were widespread protests in the country against provisions of the laws on cyber security and special economic zones.

The cyber security law, giving more government control on internet giants such as Google and Facebook, was passed on June 12, while the other has been postponed, with the controversial term on 99-year land lease term to foreign investors reportedly scrapped out.

In the aftermath of the protests, the police have detained dozens of people and slapped administrative sanctions on hundreds of citizens.