Posted on 06/23/2004 2:44:38 PM PDT by knak
Police have found 46 sets of human remains in a home in Vietnam.
The body parts were buried under the floorboards of the house in Ho Chi Minh City.
It is thought they were being used in a scam involving the fake remains of US servicemen missing in action.
More than 135 remains have been found this month in a police operation.
The body parts are thought to have been taken from the graves of dead Asians.
It is reported that the scam involved trying to persuade people that turning in the remains of US servicemen missing in action would guarantee them the right to live in America.
A 72-year-old man and a 47-year-old woman were arrested earlier this month after 89 sets of remains were found at the woman's house.
Police said the two charged three people up $1,147 each for promising to put them on a list of people who would be granted permission to live in the United States.
More than 1,800 US servicemen remain unaccounted for following the war in Vietnam, which ended in 1975.
The US government does not offer resettlement incentives for returning the body parts of servicemen.
What some folks won't do to win a spot on the gravy train.
VN ping
They are an enterprising people.
How sick.
Methinks the Ancestors are not going to like this.
Another take on the story (the truth remains elusive in VN):
Two Vietnamese Nabbed for Faking U.S. MIA Remains
Fri Jun 18, 2004 01:48 AM ET
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnamese police have arrested two people over a scam that involved faking the remains of U.S. servicemen missing in action, state media reported on Friday.
The Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper said police in the southern province of Dong Nai arrested Vong Van Tinh, 72, and Hoang Thi Hoa, 47, earlier this month for organizing the scheme.
The newspaper, without giving a source for the information, said the pair had believed that offering the fake remains would earn them the right to settle in the United States.
Officials involved in MIA recoveries say bounty hunters believe they will get a cash reward or passage to America for the finds. "There's a lot of bad information out there," one official said.
It was not clear what the fraudulent items consisted of, but most recovered MIA remains from the Vietnam War that ended in 1975 are tiny bone fragments and personal effects such as dog tags.
The paper said police raided Hoa's house and seized 89 sets of fake items packed in 42 boxes.
It said the two, who are residents in the provincial capital city of Bien Hoa, north of Ho Chi Minh City, also had documents that faked the stamp and signature of the U.S. MIA mission in Vietnam.
Police in Dong Nai declined comment. Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Smith, commander of the U.S. MIA office in Hanoi, said he had not been informed of the case but that his staff received "at least one" claim of MIA findings each week.
"We take all of them (the claims) seriously," he said.
More than 1,800 American servicemen remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia after the northern communists' victory over U.S.-backed South Vietnam. Since 1973, over 700 sets of U.S. remains have been recovered and identified.
About 300,000 Vietnamese are missing from the conflict that Vietnam calls the "American War." (Additional reporting by Christina Toh-Pantin in Hanoi)
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