Travel Agency Arson Is Latest Attack on Firms With Ties to Vietnam

Investigators say a gasoline-fueled blaze that destroyed a Vietnamese travel agency in Garden Grove may be linked to a series of politically motivated arson attacks against businesses in the county’s Little Saigon district.

Fire gutted Travelworld Agency and two adjacent businesses at the corner of Magnolia Street and Westminster Avenue about 3 a.m. Friday

“This fire, like the others, points to an anti-Communist group sending a message to a businessman,” said Capt. Willie Dumas of the Garden Grove Fire Department. “And the message is: Stop doing business with Vietnam.”

The fire is the fourth arson fire or bombing in 18 months involving a Little Saigon business with ties to Vietnam. There were no injuries in Friday’s fire, but there is fresh concern among some leaders of the county’s sizable Vietnamese community about the attacks.

“This kind of senseless act has a chilling effect on businessmen,” said one Vietnamese activist in Westminster, who spoke on condition that his name not be used. “It is a form of terrorism and I’m afraid it works. What’s frightening is nobody knows who’s next. . . .”

The apparent target Friday was the owner of Travelworld Agency, Tran Hung Vuong, who is also known as Victor Tran. In the past year, Tran has processed an increasing number of travel requests to Vietnam. That apparently marked Tran, who received several anonymous warnings in recent months not to book tours to Vietnam, according Dumas, who interviewed Tran’s family and friends.

Tran was traveling back from Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, when his business was destroyed. He could not be reached for comment Saturday. But Dumas said Tran, in an interview with fire investigators Friday night, denied receiving any threats.

“He’s very angry about the loss of his business,” said Dumas, who estimated damage to Tran’s offices and the two adjacent businesses at $400,000.

Dumas said the fire was started with gasoline near the front door of the single-story, wood-frame office. Flames quickly engulfed the structure, spreading through the attic to the other businesses. A clerk in a supermarket across Westminster Avenue spotted the blaze and called firefighters, Dumas said.

The damaged businesses were boarded up by Saturday, but a constant stream of curious people stopped or slowed as they passed the small shopping center.

“There’s quite a bit of concern in the Vietnamese community when (something like) this happens,” said Dumas, who has investigated the earlier arson attacks against Vietnamese business owners. “There’s a lot of hateful sentiment toward those people who deal with the Communist regime.”

In August, arsonists tried to burn the office of a Vietnamese-language newspaper in Santa Ana.

On Memorial Day, two Garden Grove shops, Vina Express and Binh Yen Fabrics, were set on fire. The shops, which shipped goods and mail to Vietnam for customers, had been picketed by anti-Communist groups.

Attack on Newspaper

In August, 1987, the publisher of a Vietnamese-language newspaper in Garden Grove was killed when his newspaper office was set ablaze. The paper had carried advertisements from stores carrying goods produced in Vietnam.

A group calling itself the Vietnamese Party to Exterminate the Communists and Restore the Nation claimed responsibility for the newspaper. Dumas said it is likely that someone will call to claim responsibility for the latest attack, but as of Saturday night no individual or group had come forward.

Investigating such attacks is difficult, Dumas said, because of cultural and language differences. He also said many Asians won’t cooperate with authorities because they fear they will become targets.

“Many of these people are very leery of law enforcement,” Dumas said.

Garden Grove Mayor J. Tilman Williams expressed concern Saturday over the rash of attacks in Little Saigon.

“I don’t know what one can do to stop an arsonist short of posting a round-the-clock guard,” Williams said. “We’ll keep trying to find those who are doing this. But we are almost helpless in combatting this problem.”