Hanoi authorities have uncovered a major drug trafficking case after seizing nearly 100 kilograms of synthetic drugs disguised as imported wine. Three suspects have been charged with smuggling narcotics from abroad into Vietnam.

On August 24, the Hanoi Police Department’s Drug Crime Investigation Division announced it had completed case files and transferred them to the People’s Procuracy to prosecute Truong Huu Tuan (born 1995, from Dong Nai), Tran Ngoc Anh (born 1995, from Thanh Hoa), and Nguyen Van Tuan (born 1998, also from Thanh Hoa) on charges of “Illegal transportation of narcotics.”

According to police, while carrying out operations against criminals exploiting courier and express delivery services to smuggle drugs, the unit cooperated with Hanoi Customs to detect a suspicious shipment sent from France to Vietnam.

Several task forces were deployed to monitor the delivery and prepare for arrest. At around 11 a.m. on July 19, 2024, at a hotel near the European Village in Ha Dong District, police caught Truong Huu Tuan receiving nine packages from a delivery company’s truck. Upon inspection, eight of the packages were found to contain 97.5 kilograms of synthetic drugs, vacuum-packed and concealed inside bags of foreign wine solution.

Tuan admitted he had been hired by another individual to collect the shipment. At the same time, at the Phap Van – Cau Gie toll station in Phu Xuyen District, another police team intercepted Tran Ngoc Anh and Nguyen Van Tuan, who were traveling in a car with Thanh Hoa plates. Both confessed they were hired to “oversee” the drug delivery.

Investigators determined that the group used international express delivery services to transport the drugs, with elaborate methods of concealment inside wine packages, making detection and tracking extremely difficult.

The case has now been transferred to the People’s Procuracy for prosecution in accordance with Vietnamese law.

Tien Dung