The number of criminal cases in 2016 was 54,511, a reduction of 4.4 percent from 2016 but organised crimes have shown signs of increasing in some localities.
Deputy Minister of Defence Le Chiem speaks at the conference
The information was released at an online conference on March 7 of the Government Steering Committee 138 for the National Programme on Crime Prevention and Control to 2020.
According to Lieutenant General Do Kim Tuyen, deputy head of the General Department of Police under the Ministry of Public Security, 2016 saw many serious criminal cases involving large numbers of suspects and weapons, causing serious concern in society.
Economic crimes and corruption have become more sophisticated and occurred in many sectors, with financial crimes posing serious threats to the banking system.
Drug crimes continued to increase, with more criminals using weapons to fight law enforcement forces.
During the year, competent forces solved 42,558 criminal cases, arresting 80,210 suspects. The forces also brought to light 16,823 economic crimes and 244 corruption cases, investigated 669 hi-tech crimes and handled 17,622 violations of environmental laws. A total of 18,742 drug crimes and 234 cases of human trafficking were uncovered.
Deputy Minister of Defence Senior Lieutenant General Le Chiem said drug syndicates mainly operate in areas bordering Laos, Cambodia and China.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Do Kim Tuyen Tuyen said despite a 6-percent decline in the number of human trafficking cases, the number of victims increased by 12 percent.
Areas bordering China reported the largest number of human trafficking cases.
Head of the Steering Committee Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh pointed out that many local governments, agencies and sectors have not paid sufficient attention to dealing with crimes.
The Deputy PM emphasized that leaders of People’s Committees in areas where crimes are prevalent must bear responsibility before the Government and the Prime Minister.
He instructed intensifying crackdowns on dangerous criminal gangs, transnational crime syndicates and the hunt for wanted suspects, including those who have fled abroad.
Deputy PM Truong Hoa Binh also requested stricter management and detoxification of drug addicts to prevent them from committing crimes.
VNA