Police in the northern province of Dien Bien has announced that its Drug Crime Investigation Office on January 3 arrested two persons transporting 489 bricks of heroin, weighing 171kg and worth 3 million USD.

Vu Chu Senh (R) and Mua Thi Do 

This is the biggest-ever drug case detected in Vietnam, the police said.

Vu Chu Senh (born 1974) and Mua Thi Do (born 1979), from Con Cang hamlet, Na U commune, Dien Bien district, were caught red-handed at 6:30pm in Thanh Chuong commune, Dien Bien district. They used two motorbikes to transport the heroin, which was hidden in six bags of Thailand’s tea. 

Earlier on December 23, 2017, the province’s drug police also arrested three men involved in drug trading, seizing 77 bricks of heroin, weighing nearly 30kg, and 60,000 synthetic drug pills, weighing 5.5kg.

Drug traffickers sentenced to death, life imprisonment

Synthetic drugs - Illustrative image 

The People’s Court of Hanoi on January 3 sentenced two people to death and six to life imprisonment for smuggling drugs between the northern mountainous province of Son La and Hanoi.

Nguyen Thi Bich Nga and Nguyen Van Vo, both born in 1969 in Hanoi, received death penalties.

Life sentences were imposed on Dao Thi Binh (born in 1977), Truong Quoc Dong (1974), Ngo Trung Kien (1995) and Truong Cong Thanh (1992), living in Son La province, and Le Van Bang (1984) and Nguyen Van Duy (1976), living in Hanoi. Among them, Binh is Kien’s mother, and Dong is Thanh’s uncle.

According to the indictment, Binh and Dong were caught on May 12, 2016 transporting two heroin bricks and 58 bags of methamphetamine weighing a total of nearly 2kg. 

Investigations revealed that the couple and Kien and Thanh had transported drugs from Son La to Hanoi since the beginning of 2016.

The drugs were sold to Vo, Nga, Bang and Duy, who would then sell them on to other people.

The investigation agency announced that Binh and Dong were charged with trafficking four heroin bricks, weighing 1.4kg, and 17,600 methamphetamine pills, weighing 1.75kg, and 178.1gr of opium.

Kien and Thanh were charged with trafficking two heroin bricks and 17,600 synthetic pills.

Nga was responsible for smuggling over 2kg of synthetic drugs (methamphetamine and ketamine) and 6,000 methamphetamine pills and 178.1gr of opium.

Meanwhile, Vo was involved in smuggling four heroin bricks and 58 bags of methamphetamine. Bang and Duy were charged with buying two heroin bricks from Binh, Dong and Vo.

All of them were charged with “illegally smuggling drugs” in accordance with Article 194, Clause 4 of the Penal Code.

VNA