The situation is under direct impact of global and regional crimes, police said.

Illegal drugs in Vietnam mainly come from overseas to be traded in the country or for transport to third countries via Vietnam’s land, air and sea routes, said the department’s head Lieutenant-General Pham Van Cac.

The trading and trafficking of illegal drugs, especially synthetic drugs, has sharply increased in border areas with Laos and Cambodia, he said.

Since earlier this year, police has tackled many illegal drug trafficking cases involving large quantities of narcotics in border areas.

The drugs from the 'Golden Triangle' around the Laos, Thailand and Myanmar borders were transported through Thailand, Laos and Cambodia to Vietnam.

Notably, some criminal rings from North America and Africa used Cambodia as a transit route to transport drugs to Vietnam’s northern provinces and China.

Meanwhile, in the border area between Vietnam and China, heroin was transported to China via Vietnam and meth was transported from abroad to Vietnam for consumption.

The seaports continue to be potential routes for drugs to enter and transit through Vietnam.

Drug crimes with foreigner involvement are common in the southern region, especially HCM City which became a 'hot spot' of the crime in Vietnam.

Some foreigners came to Vietnam as tourists or businessmen and took advantages of the Government’s preferential policies on import-export, customs and immigration to carry out drug crimes.

They often worked with Vietnamese entities to set up businesses and rent warehouses to disguise their illegal activities.

To confront with situation, the department has enhanced measures and worked with other forces to fight drug-related crimes, said the police general.

The control and management of addictive and psychotropic drugs had produced many positive changes and international cooperation on drug prevention has been expanded.

This year, the department dismantled thousands of crime rings headed by both Vietnamese and foreign nationals.

As of November, police had detected more than 23,300 cases, arresting over 36,200 criminals and seizing more than one tonne of heroine, more than one million pills of synthetic drugs, 614kg of opium and 768kg of cannabis.

Notably, the synthetic drugs figure increased five times compared to last year, the police said./.VNA

Two Taiwanese drug traffickers arrested in HCM City

Two Taiwanese involved in a drug trafficking ring were arrested on December 20 while hiding in Ho Chi Minh City, police said on December 21.

Two Laotian men caught with 100,000 pills of synthetic drugs

Border guards operating in Dien Bien province have co-operated with their counterparts in Laos to successfully arrest two Laotian traffickers as they were in the process of transporting a large quantity of drugs into Vietnam.