The “amateur” criminals were 18-year-old Nguyen Pham Duy Cuong and his wife, 22-year-old Nguyen Ngoc Phuong.

Cuong, arrested Thursday, told the police that he nurtured the plot since mid-November to make money to help his mother who incurred heavy losses in trading.

The couple targeted the Coop Mart supermarket on Cong Quynh Street in District 1, simply because Cuong had played there as a small boy.

City police easily tracked them down following their handwriting and fingerprints found on the mail, and on the unexploded bomb.

Cuong said he had bought gunpowder at a hunting gun shop on the street and used steel boxes and electricity wires to assemble the bombs.

The plot

The couple first sent a letter to the store’s management board on Dec. 11, demanding to give them US$100,000 in the next three days or explode a bomb at the store.

“There will be explosions starting today … just so you know I’m serious. Cong An (police) newspaper will have reports on the explosions. Please remember to read the newspaper,” the letter read.

“The figure [US$100,000] is nothing compared to your monthly turnover, you shouldn’t worry about it,” it said.

The couple also promised that “When the deal is over, it won’t happen again.”

They provided their cell phone number and asked the store manager to contact them at midnight Dec. 13 and be alone when bringing money to the rendezvous site.

At that time, the store manager did not pay much attention to the childish letter which addressed her as ‘sir’.

Bomb arrival

Another “alarming” letter was delivered on Dec. 17, informing store management that it had received a “gift” in the shopper lockers. It turned out to be a bed lamp with a bomb hidden inside.

The “gift” carried a warning label which read “this will explode if it is plugged into a socket”.

This time, they demanded the money three days later, in a meeting at a church in District 1.

After police were alerted, they raided the couple’s apartment, finding batteries, explosives and tools for illegally copying pornographic films.

The HCMC Commercial Cooperative Union, operating the Coop Mart store, offered VND50 million (US$3,150) as a reward to policemen in the case.

Reported by Huu Phu - Translated by Thanh Hang