Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have detained a dozen men accused of running a large-scale operation that snatched cats from neighborhoods across the city and sold the animals for meat, according to Vietnamese state media reports.
Police named 39-year-old Luu Thanh Binh as the suspected organizer of the network. He and 11 other men are under investigation on theft charges, state media said Monday. The case represents one of the most extensive cat-trafficking busts reported in Vietnam in recent years, both in the number of suspects involved and in the estimated scale of the operation.
Investigators allege that Binh served as the network's central buyer, purchasing cats that had been taken from streets and homes, then housing the animals at a facility in the northern part of the city before reselling them for meat. His operation allegedly depended on a tiered system of suppliers who, in turn, recruited others to carry out the actual thefts.
According to state media accounts, those recruited riders fanned out through residential neighborhoods on motorcycles during a narrow overnight window, typically between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. The nocturnal timing allowed the crews to move through quiet streets with less risk of being noticed by residents or witnesses, investigators said. Each rider was reportedly capable of trapping between four and 10 cats in a single night, a pace that, multiplied across the network, could account for a substantial number of animals over time.
When police raided the operation on July 8, they discovered roughly 50 cats still being held and seized dozens of traps, state media reported. The suspects subsequently told investigators they had stolen and sold approximately 2,700 cats in total. Authorities have not disclosed how long the alleged network had been in operation or how the estimate of 2,700 animals was calculated.
Thai Binh's role, as described by investigators, appears to have been that of a middleman and distributor rather than a street-level thief. By purchasing cats from multiple suppliers and consolidating them at a single holding site, he could move animals into the meat trade at a scale that individual poachers would be unable to achieve on their own. Such networks often rely on informal supply chains that stretch from urban neighborhoods to rural markets and slaughterhouses.
The case has drawn attention to the broader practice of consuming dog and cat meat in Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia. While the practice is not unique to Vietnam, it has never been a mainstream custom nationwide. Cat meat has traditionally been more common in the northern part of the country and among older generations, while the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City has generally had a weaker association with the trade.
Changing demographics and attitudes have steadily eroded demand. As pet ownership has risen and Vietnamese cities have grown more urbanized, younger people in particular have come to view dogs and cats as companion animals rather than sources of food. This generational shift has coincided with growing public pressure to end the trade.
In 2024, more than 250,000 people signed a petition demanding an end to Vietnam's dog and cat meat trade, a sign of the issue's expanding profile among the public. The central Vietnam city of Hoi An had already made a similar commitment, pledging in 2021 to end the sale and consumption of dog and cat meat within its jurisdiction.
Some consumers continue to believe that eating cat meat brings good luck, though there is no scientific evidence supporting such claims. The belief is sometimes cited as a reason for the persistence of demand, particularly around certain times of year or among particular groups.
The legal framework surrounding such cases is relatively straightforward in principle, though enforcement has historically been uneven. Under Vietnamese law, dogs and cats are classified as private property, meaning that taking them without permission constitutes theft. Criminal prosecution generally applies when the value of the stolen property exceeds a threshold of 2 million dong, a figure that can be reached quickly when multiple animals are taken.
That classification has implications for how the case against Binh and his co-defendants will proceed. Because the suspects face theft allegations rather than animal-cruelty charges, the strength of the prosecution may hinge on documenting the value of the animals involved and connecting specific thefts to specific defendants.
The aftermath of the raid has also raised practical questions about what happens to animals recovered from such operations. Police returned 13 of the confiscated cats to their owners, according to state media. The remaining animals were placed in the care of a nonprofit animal rights group while authorities worked to identify their owners.
Identifying the rightful owners of stolen cats can be difficult, particularly in a city where many pets are not registered or microchipped. Rescue organizations often serve as an interim safety net, providing food, veterinary care, and shelter while the legal process unfolds.
The investigation into Binh and the other 11 suspects is continuing. Police have not said whether additional arrests are expected or whether the network had connections to operations in other provinces. The case remains a rare example of authorities disrupting a cat-theft ring at what appears to be an organized, multi-layer level rather than targeting individual offenders.
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