Nguyen Van Nhan is admitting his faults to the police. — Photo doisongvietnam.vn

Nguyen Van Nhan, 39, of Viet Yen District in the northern province of Bac Giang is the accused.

At 9pm on April 21, Nhan called 113, claimed to be a man name Chung who lived in Mai Ha District and told them a friend of his had prepared a gun and three grenades and was planning to attack a family on April 30.

Provincial criminal police investigated the case and when they tracked down Nhan, he said he hadn't made the call but a drunken man had.

Police soon discovered that at the beginning of April, Nhan had also posed as Chung and called 113 to say one of his neighbours had returned home from Hanoi and he suspected they had contracted COVID-19.

At the police station, Nhan confessed that his wife had left him and he had called 113 to try and have some fun at the police's expense. He said he also wanted to check if the police would answer the hotline.

While prank calls to 113 carry a maximum fine of VND500,000-1,000,000 (US$22-44), if the caller is deemed to have been committing harassment, they could face a fine of up VND10-20 million ($444-890).

So it seems Nhan's little jokes are going to cost him a lot more than he bargained for.  VNS

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