Hanoi - Police in Vietnam have arrested two of their colleagues accused of accepting a bribe of 1 billion dong (60,000 dollars), an official said Friday. The Police Department of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau arrested Major Vo Van Ly, 43, and Lieutenant Vo Chi Thanh from the provincial Marine Police Department Thursday, said the province's chief police officer, Do Minh Dan.
Ly and his subordinate were accused of having accepted 1 billion dong from the captain of an oil tanker on May 19 after finding the tanker carrying 70 tons of fuel oil without receipts or vouchers.
"They will be held for four months pending investigation on charges of receiving bribes," Dan said.
The oil tanker, the Thanh Cong 1, belonged to a company in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang. It was hauling oil reportedly worth about 10 billion dong.
Dan said police also arrested the captain of the oil tanker, Bui Van Sen, on Thursday for offering the bribe.
The Communist Party Committee of the province has revoked the party membership of Ly and Thanh, and the provincial police department has taken away their sidearms.
"It took a long time before they were arrested because we had to follow all the necessary procedures, and we had also faced resistance from them," Dan said.
According to the penal code of Vietnam, receiving a bribe valued at 300 million dong or more is subject to penalties ranging from 20 years in prison to capital punishment.
In April this year, four Hanoi police officers were suspended from duty, hours after a local news website posted a video clip showing them taking bribes from motorists who had violated traffic laws.
In the clip, the police were shown stopping motorbike drivers not wearing helmets or going the wrong direction on one-way streets. They then accepted up to 300,000 dong each from the drivers before letting them go.
