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A shocking large‑scale theft case has recently come to light within Vietnam’s railway system. A train driver colluded with accomplices to build a complete fuel‑theft criminal ring. For more than a year, the gang siphoned diesel fuel from locomotives parked at Vinh Railway Station and resold it at cut‑rate prices, generating illegal profits of over 4.5 billion Vietnamese dong.

The ringleader, 43‑year‑old Nguyen Dinh Kien, resides in Vinh, Nghe An Province, and works as a train driver for Hanoi Locomotive Enterprise Branch. Police investigations revealed that between July 2025 and July 2026, he exploited his professional position to recruit multiple individuals and set up a fully‑fledged criminal operation covering fuel theft, transportation and resale. The gang included not only insiders from the railway sector, but also freelancers, gas‑station owners and even hospital technical staff, making the composition of their membership highly complex.

How did they steal fuel in plain sight? Their modus operandi was surprisingly sophisticated. Every night between midnight and 5 a.m., Nguyen Dinh Kien directed two accomplices to park a 1.5‑tonne box truck beside the perimeter wall of Vinh Railway Station. The truck carried a roughly 1 000‑litre storage tank connected to a pumping system, which linked to pre‑buried plastic pipelines laid underneath the railway tracks. The opposite ends of these pipelines ran straight to the fuel tanks of locomotives inside the station. Inside the station, Nguyen Dinh Kien and his associates bribed on‑duty locomotive drivers to open fuel valves and siphon diesel while trains were stationary.

The whole operation was swift: each theft took only 5‑10 minutes to draw off 200‑600 litres of diesel. The gang targeted between three and five locomotives per night. After stealing the fuel, the truck delivered the stolen diesel to Nguyen Dinh Kien’s residence for storage, before the fuel was transported for resale at daylight.

By carrying out heists deep at night, acting fast and hitting multiple targets, the gang evaded detection for over a year. Yet no racket can stay hidden forever. The Economic Security Division of Nghe An Provincial Public Security Department detected suspected diesel‑theft activity among some locomotive drivers of Hanoi Locomotive Enterprise Branch. Given the case’s complexity, large number of persons of interest and long duration, authorities formed a special investigation task force together with the Security Investigation Division.

The crackdown took place in the early hours of July 30. Task‑force officers arrested Nguyen Dinh Kien together with seven other accomplices red‑handed as they were siphoning diesel from locomotive D19E978 at Vinh Railway Station. Police seized three trucks, 2 400 litres of diesel and substantial case‑related equipment and documents at the scene. As the investigation unfolded, 21 suspects had been indicted in connection with the case by August .

According to preliminary police verification, from July 2025 to July 2026, Nguyen Dinh Kien’s gang stole and resold hundreds of thousands of litres of diesel. They sold the fuel at 2 800‑4 000 Vietnamese dong per litre below market prices, netting illegal gains exceeding 4.5 billion Vietnamese dong. Police are still expanding the investigation to clarify the exact roles of other involved parties.

This case is regarded as one of the largest‑scale embezzlement scandals in the history of Vietnam Railways. Leveraging underground fuel pipelines and an extensive network of contacts, an ordinary‑looking train driver created massive financial losses for the state‑run railway operator.