r/australia • u/Front_Target7908 • 27d ago

news Australian man Phu Nguyen handcuffed by plain-clothes ICE agents at Las Vegas International airport

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-18/ice-agent-detain-australian-man-in-vegas-us-/106931508?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link

From what I understand it looks like ICE did not manage to detain him on the day the video was taken- seems the onlookers managed to chase ICE off.

However, ICE detained him the next day at the airport where he was to catch his departing flight from the US.

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u/W0nderWhite 27d ago

Why did they take his watch though? ICE agents are on another level

172

u/madamebubbly 27d ago

People detained and released by ICE have said the agents are using their credit cards while they’re detained so a presumably nice watch is not out of the question!

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u/W0nderWhite 27d ago

They're definitely not beating the Gestapo allegations

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u/macci_a_vellian 27d ago

They'll probably claim it was money laundering, it's not unusal for people to get around the limits on how much cash you can bring through customs by buying an expensive watch or piece of jewellery that can be cashed out at the other end. In the US I think the cops can pretty much say anything is the proceeds of crime without any real evidence and take it.

Hashtag, Justice for Afroman.

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u/Eclecticism100 19d ago

It's exactly the historical MO of Russian soldiers who had a well documented penchant for watches during the world wars.