They accepted the mission,…they arrived…they observed…and then everything changed 💔🚨 New details in the Lorenzo Lemalu case reveal how suspects Joseph Vaa and Steve Tafia planned the attack, and after 72 hours they sent a latest warning
Vietnam police show accused shooters, chained to chairs
Vietnamese police have released pictures of two Samoan men accused of executing Sydney gangster Lorenzo Lemalu with military-style weapons outside a Ho Chi Minh City restaurant, along with an alleged confession by one of them.
PREMIUM
Watch: Accused Vietnam shooter’s confession
Become a member to access our premium video content
A military-style weapon was used to gun down Sydney gangster Lorenzo Lemalu soon after he left a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, according to Vietnamese police investigating the murder of the Australian leader of the so-called Coconut Cartel.
It comes as images of the two Samoans accused of killing Lemalu were released, showing the pair hooded and chained to chairs.
Joseph Vaa is hooded by police.
Steve Tafia, wearing a pink shirt, and Joseph Vaa, a balding man wearing a dark jumper, were paraded in front of photographers on Tuesday.
An alleged copy of Vaa’s confession to the shooting was also released by police.
Vaa, aged in his late 20s, was accused of being the shooter in the brazen attack on Lemalu, whose friend Sam Sauni was also wounded.
Joseph Vaa with his hood removed.
Lemalu, a leader of the Coconut Cartel, declared war on the powerful Alameddine crime family and believed to be behind a series of Sydney shootings and firebombings targeting the syndicate
Tafia, 23, was accused of being an accomplice in the case.
The pair were arrested when they allegedly tried to escape to Cambodia.
Vietnamese police also issued an emergency detention order against Nguyen Trong Nghia, 24, who was working as a driver in Ho Chi Minh City.
Steve Tafia at the Vietnam police press conference.
Another seven Vietnamese people were arrested as part of the police investigation.
Lieutenant General Mai Hoang released details about the case and the photographs of the accused shooters at a press conference.
The pair were arrested within 72 hours of the murder, police said, according to a translation.
The Samoans were “professional, extremely aggressive” and used “military weapons” in the deadly attack, police claimed.
One of the other men arrested in assocation with the shooting.
Three shots were fired at Lemalu and his group, police said, after they had eaten at the C’eef restaurant.
Confronting footage showed frantic efforts to save Lemalu but he died as a result of his injuries.
One of the other men arrested in assocation with the shooting.
Police were able to clarify the alleged shooters’ movements in the lead up to the killing, and their escape route.
The alleged shooters had arrived in Vietnam at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on May 14 and shadowed Lemalu’s movements for a week before the incident on May 21, police said.
Lt Gen Hoang said police used “maximum resources” to apprehend the Samoan men, along with the Vietnamese nationals accused of assisting them.
SOURE: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=DTWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailytelegraph.com.au%2Ftruecrimeaustralia%2Fpolice-courts-nsw%2Fvietnam-police-show-accused-shooters-chained-to-chairs%2Fnews-story%2F35b99c56bf1f61fa8d55355fb0ce19fc&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=LOW-Segment-1-SCORE
