Dung, who had been wanted by police since mid 2011, was escorted from Hai Duong to Binh Thuan for questioning on Tuesday.

According to the case file, Vo Thi Tuyet, a manager of the Lucky Star Hotel in Xuan Loc District, Dong Nai Province, and her de facto husband, Phan Anh Cuong, engaged themselves in illegal football betting in 2010.

The couple then lost VND1 billion (US$48,000) to another football bettor in Cambodia, simply identified as Ty, but failed to pay the amount.

Due to their conflict, the couple parted later the same year and Cuong returned to his former wife in Binh Thuan’s Phan Thiet. Tuyet tried to get in contact with him but failed to do so.

On May 26, 2011, Tuyet asked Dung, a member of the underground in northern Hai Phong City, to assist her in her scam to extort the amount from Cuong.

A few days later, Dung and four others, Nguyen Van Nghiem, Le Van Hien, Do Trong Thanh and Tran Dang Manh - who was a police major in a district in HCMC - went to Phan Thiet to look for Cuong.

They finally found Cuong and forced him to sign a promissory note stating he owed Tuyet $238,000.

According to the note, Cuong had to hand VND200 million ($9,600) to the gang immediately and would have to pay $10,000 every month to a designated bank account.

On June 27, 2011, Cuong paid VND130 million to the account after reporting the case to police, who later seized Hien and Nghiem when they arrived at a bank in District 12, HCMC to withdraw the money.

Tuyet fled and remained in hiding until February 2012, when she turned herself in to police as the instigator of the extortion scheme, while Dung continued hiding until he was arrested in Hai Duong Province last month.

Binh Thuan police are finalizing their investigation to propose the local prosecutor’s office to bring Tuyet and her three accomplices to trial for “appropriating assets”.