Coconut Cartel member shot dead outside restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Coconut Cartel member shot dead outside restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

NEWS:

A senior member of Sydney's Coconut Cartel was shot dead outside a restaurant in central Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on May 21, 2026, in a targeted attack captured by surveillance footage.

Vietnamese authorities identified the dead man as Lemalu Lorenzo Tovia, an Australian born on December 19, 2001 and widely known as Lorenzo Laemalu. Police said he was struck by two bullets and died at the scene.

A second Australian, Sauni Sam, born on March 5, 1999, was hit by one bullet and seriously wounded. Vietnamese authorities said on May 26 that Sam remained under intensive medical treatment.

Police received the report at about 00:10:10 p.m. on May 21 after gunfire outside Cee'f seafood restaurant at 70 Truong Dinh Street in Ben Thanh Ward.

Surveillance footage of the attack shows a gunman opening fire at close range outside the restaurant. Muzzle flashes are visible during the shooting, and the victims are struck during the attack. The recording directly establishes that the men were deliberately fired upon, although it does not by itself establish who ordered the killing or the motive behind it.

Vietnamese investigators later identified two Samoan nationals as the suspected attackers. Vaa Vaa, born in 1999, was identified by police as the man who directly used the gun. Tafia Steve, born in 2003, was identified as his accomplice.

Authorities said the two men entered Ho Chi Minh City through Tan Son Nhat International Airport on May 14, one week before the shooting. Investigators said they then studied the movements and routine of the two intended victims.

Police said three shots were fired after Laemalu, Sam and other people had finished a meal at the restaurant on the night of May 21. Laemalu was hit twice and died at the scene. Sam was hit once.

The suspects fled after the shooting. Vietnamese police reconstructed their route and determined that they had moved toward the border region between Vietnam and Cambodia.

Both men were captured less than 72 hours after the killing while hiding near the border and were taken back to Ho Chi Minh City for questioning.

Vietnamese authorities said Vaa Vaa and Tafia Steve admitted their involvement during the initial investigation and said they had carried out the attack under the direction of a person outside Vietnam.

The identity of the person alleged to have ordered the shooting has not been publicly established by Vietnamese authorities.

Police placed Vaa Vaa and Tafia Steve under emergency detention while investigating them for murder. Authorities also detained eight Vietnamese nationals, including a passenger transport worker from Tay Ninh Province, while investigating allegations that they failed to report the crime or assisted the suspects during their escape.

Laemalu had been identified by Australian investigators as a senior figure in the Coconut Cartel, an organized crime group involved in an escalating conflict within Sydney's criminal underworld.

He was believed to have left Australia and to have been helping direct the group's activities from Southeast Asia alongside other senior members who had also moved overseas.

The Coconut Cartel had been engaged in a violent feud with the Alameddine criminal network in Sydney. Soon after Laemalu was killed, messages circulated through an underworld-linked media account appearing to claim responsibility for the shooting on behalf of figures associated with the Alameddine network.

That claim has not been confirmed by Vietnamese authorities.

Subsequent information from Australia introduced another possible motive. Investigators began examining whether Laemalu's murder could instead be connected to the seizure of approximately 390 kilograms of methamphetamine in Sydney on April 28 and the subsequent disruption of Coconut Cartel operations.

Australian police officially confirmed that the 390 kilograms of methamphetamine were found during Strike Force Golporta, an investigation into an alleged onshore coordinator working for an offshore organized crime network involved in an ongoing criminal conflict.

Several people were arrested during the operation.

Subsequent reporting based on law enforcement intelligence indicated that investigators were exploring whether the loss of the methamphetamine shipment could have triggered retaliation against Laemalu.

Investigators were also examining whether Daniel Rodney Badger, an Australian fugitive accused of operating an international drug syndicate from overseas, may have had a role in the events surrounding the killing.

No authority has publicly established that Badger ordered the murder, and the possibility remains an investigative theory.

Australian investigators were also reported to be skeptical that the Alameddine network had the resources and international reach required to organize the Ho Chi Minh City attack, despite the messages that appeared to claim responsibility immediately after the shooting.

The competing theories mean that the person who commissioned the killing remains publicly unidentified.

The investigation also extended beyond Vietnam and Australia.

Authorities in Samoa began examining possible local connections involving the two Samoan suspects. By June, several people in Samoa were facing proceedings arising from an investigation into suspected links to the Vietnam case.

Later that month, Samoa's acting police commissioner said Vietnamese authorities had declined a request from Samoan investigators to interview the two suspects in person while criminal proceedings against them continued in Vietnam.

Laemalu's killing therefore developed from what initially appeared to be another episode in Sydney's gang feud into a multinational investigation involving Vietnamese homicide detectives, Australian organized crime investigators and Samoan authorities.

What has been officially established is that Laemalu was shot twice and killed outside the Ho Chi Minh City restaurant, Sam was shot and seriously wounded, two Samoan nationals were arrested within three days, and Vietnamese investigators say the pair acted on instructions from someone outside the country.

The identity of that alleged organizer and the definitive motive for the killing have not been publicly established.

News story written by DarkGore.

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