Bank robber busted at casino in Vietnam after Daejeon heist

Police nabbed a 47-year-old man in a casino in Vietnam on Sunday after he fled the country following a credit union heist in Daejeon last month, ending a 24-day search involving Interpol.

The Daejeon credit union heist suspect is spotted at a casino in Danang, Vietnam, on Sunday afternoon shortly before his arrest, in a CCTV footage obtained by police. [DAEJEON POLICE AGENCY]

Police nabbed a 47-year-old man in a casino in Vietnam on Sunday after he fled the country following a credit union heist in Daejeon last month, ending a 24-day search involving Interpol.

On Aug. 18, the suspect took off with some 39 million won ($29,307) in cash from a National Credit Union Federation of Korea (Shinhyup) branch in Gwanjeo-dong, Seo District in Daejeon.

Around noon that day, a man wearing a black helmet arrived at the bank, located on the first floor of a commercial building, spraying a fire extinguisher and threatening a female employee with a knife to "hand over all the cash."

He took off around 10 minutes later with the money on a white motorcycle.

There were two employees at the bank at the time of the crime, one of whom called the police from the bathroom.

A National Credit Union Federation of Korea (Shinhyup) branch in Gwanjeo-dong, Seo-District in Daejeon is closed on the afternoon of Aug. 18, after a robber took off with 39 million won in cash from the bank. [KIM SEONG-TAE]

A CCTV footage shows the bank robber arriving on a motorcycle ahead of his heist of the National Credit Union Federation of Korea (Shinhyup) branch in Gwanjeo-dong, Seo-District in Daejeon around noon on Aug. 18. [YONHAP]

However, the Daejeon Police Agency had a difficult time tracking down the bank robber, who took convoluted routes through several neighborhoods to get authorities off his trail, abandoning the first motorcycle for another one.

Hookwinking police, the man changed transportation several times, catching taxis, walking and taking roads without CCTVs and closed-off streets.

At one point, detectives from six police stations in Daejeon and 250 officers, including those dispatched from violent crime investigation units and the mobile task forces, were deployed to track down the escaped suspect.

By the time police had identified the suspect several days later on Aug. 21, the man had already departed for Vietnam.

In turn, Korean police asked for cooperation from Interpol, or the International Criminal Police Organization, and Vietnamese authorities to apprehend the suspect.

Interpol issued a red notice for the suspect, a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action, based on an arrest warrant or court order in the requesting country.

The weekslong search came to an end when police were tipped by a Korean residing in Vietnam that the suspect was spotted in a local casino.

Left: The Daejeon credit union heist suspect is spotted stealing from a Korean supermarket in Vietnam earlier this month in CCTV footage obtained by police. Right: His mode of transportation is a motorcycle he bought in Vietnam. [DAEJEON POLICE AGENCY]

The man was arrested for special robbery by Korea's National Police Agency, in cooperation with Interpol and Vietnamese police, at a casino in a hotel in Danang on Sunday. Korean law defines robbery using a deadly weapon as special robbery.

The suspect was put under emergency detention at around 4:55 p.m. local time, the Daejeon Police Agency said.

The suspect's family and acquaintances said he had been hundreds of millions of won in debt due to oveseas gambling, according to police.

Police said that the suspect is believed to have already spent the 39 million won he had stolen from the credit union.

The Daejeon Police Agency in a press briefing Monday said that in cooperation with Vietnamese police, authorities had sent out wanted notices for the suspect last Friday, leading to an initial tip-off that the suspect had been spotted at a Korean supermarket in Vietnam. Footage of the suspect from a CCTV in the supermarket matched the photo from the wanted poster.

On Sunday afternoon, police received the decisive tip-off that the suspect had been spotted at a Danang casino "four to five days ago."

Undercover police were soon on his trail and tracked him down in less than four hours.

At the time of his arrest, the suspect was wearing a hat and mask to cover his face and in possession of casino tokens worth 2 million won.

He admitted to being the credit union robber in an initial investigation by Vietnamese police.

The suspect also allegedly committed burglary while in Vietnam, stealing a bag from a supermarket run by a Korean, captured in CCTV footage, police said.

Korean police are discussing the suspect's extradition with Vietnamese authorities and will further investigate the motives behind the robbery.

A wanted poster for the 47-year-old Daejeon credit union heist suspect. [DAEJEON POLICE AGENCY]

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]