VietNamNet Bridge – Six K54 pistols stolen from the Thanh Phong Prison in Thanh Hoa Province have been recovered, according to police. Three men have arrested in the case.

The weapons were found after three days.

According to the investigating agency , at about 5.30am on April 26, staff of the Thanh Phong prison discovered that six K54 guns and six boxes of bullet were missing.

The prison coordinated with experts from the Ministry of Public Security to investigate this serious case. Dozens of scouts and elite investigators were mobilized. After three days of investigation, on April 29, the police arrested three suspects and recovered the weapons.

The suspects confessed that through their relations with a soldier who worked at the prison, they were able to learn the loopholes in weapon protection at the prison. The soldier is Do Thanh Lam, 18, a native of Nong Cong District in Thanh Hoa.

At around 3.30am on April 26, Lam sneaked into the prison and broke the lock of the Camp 1 armory. Seeing 12 guns (10 K54 and two K59) on the table, Lam absconded with six K54 pistols and six bullet boxes.

On the morning of April 26, Lam met Le Van Long, 25, also from Nong Cong District, to hand him a briefcase containing four guns and four bullet boxes. That same day, Long passed the weapons along to his girlfriend, Nguyen Thi Thanh Lam, to store at her home in Nong Cong. Also that day, Lam travelled to Hanoi and Lang Son with the remaining two guns to find buyers.

On the 29th, police arrested Lam in the Tu Son District of Bac Ninh Province, seizing one K54 and 7 bullets. The last of the guns was seized the following morning at 6am, at the home an acquaintance of Lam in the town of Dong Dang in Lang Son province.

Colonel Le Trong Dinh, deputy head of C54, which manages prisons throughout the country, said that this case is both very serious and unprecedented. "C54 manages over 50 prisons and this is the first case of its kind since the agency was formed,” he said.

Many reporters asked for details about the weapons thief, and his relationship with staff at the prison , but Thanh Hoa police and representatives of C54 declined to comment.

Le Ha