By SCOTT INGLIS
A Vietnamese man's disappearance in a rugged swamp south of Auckland remains a mystery despite intensive police inquiries.
Detectives say there is no evidence that 26-year-old Vin Nuoi Nguyen of Papatoetoe met a sinister death but admit it remains a possibility.
The case will be referred to the coroner.
Mr Nguyen
vanished in the Whangamarino Swamp, 7km northeast of Te Kauwhata, about 4.30 pm on May 15. He was looking for a place to fish and was with his 23-year-old de facto wife, Hien Thi Le, and 47-year-old brother Quoi and his wife.
Huntly police conducted an initial inquiry before asking the Counties-Manukau CIB to investigate.
A team of eight detectives, headed by Detective Senior Sergeant Gary Lendrum, has spent the past few weeks re-interviewing Mr Nguyen's family and nine eelers and duck shooters in the Whangamarino area at the time.
A search and rescue squad also combed the swamp for clues on July 18.
However, Detective Senior Sergeant Lendrum told the Herald that the case was still a mystery.
"We still don't know what's happened to him ... We may never know unless a body turns up at some stage."
Mr Nguyen, who came to New Zealand in 1990 with Quoi via a Philippine refugee camp, vanished on a muggy Monday afternoon. The two women were by their car when he and his brother went into the swamp.
Mr Nguyen then told his brother he was going to walk from the Falls Rd bridge to the Island Block Rd bridge.
Quoi Nguyen told police he decided against the trek and stayed with the women. It was the last time he saw his brother, who was only wearing a white T-shirt, blue trackpants and red and purple Jandals.
