AFP/Hanoi
Vietnam has arrested 17 people after a blitz on drug crime uncovered major stashes of heroin, cannabis and precursor chemicals, state media said yesterday.
Six Vietnamese were arrested in Hanoi after being caught with some 120kg of heroin hidden inside household gas canisters, the Thanh Nien newspaper said yesterday.
“The suspects confessed to having brought the heroin from northern mountainous Son La province to Hanoi,” the report said.
Eleven more people were arrested in a separate operation targeting drugs being smuggled into Vietnam from Laos, the state-run Vietnam News reported.
“Ten Laos nationals and one suspect from Thailand were arrested in the Laos province of Bolikhamxay on July 23,” during the “largest ever” joint operation between Vietnamese and Laos police, the report said.
Some 5.5 tons of precursor chemicals and cannabis were seized during the raid, the report said.
It did not specify what the chemicals were for but precusors are needed to manufacture a range of synthetic drugs including methamphetamines -- popular across Southeast Asia.
Communist Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. Anyone found guilty of possessing more than 600gm of heroin, or more than 20kg of opium, can face the death penalty.
Convictions and sentences are usually revealed only by local media, which is strictly under state control.
Trafficker Nguyen Quoc Hung with the heroin.
