Speedboat on Sa Ky-Ly Son route launched

A new high-speed boat, with a capacity of 250 passengers, was put into operation on the Sa Ky-Ly Son route on Sunday.
The new boat, called An Vinh 01, is equipped with up-to-date communication devices and rescue equipment. It will help ease the pressure of transportation on the route.

The addition of the boat will make a total of four boats transporting around 800 passengers a day between central Quang Ngai Province's Sa Ky's Port and Ly Son Island.

Airport detects 1.62 kg of drugs hidden in handbag

Customs officers at Tan Son Nhat Airport, Ho Chi Minh City, detected and seized 1.62 kg of drugs from a Vietnamese woman who was about to fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last Friday.

Ngo Thi Phuong Thao, 31, of Vietnamese nationality, was caught hiding four bags of an unknown white solid substance in her handbag as she was carrying procedures to board flight AK883 to Kuala Lumpur on June 1.

Subsequent tests on the substance indicated that it was methamphetamine, a kind of synthetic drug.

Thao and the drugs were then handed to police for questioning.

Thao told investigators that she was hired by a Malaysian woman to bring the suitcase to Malaysia. Thao also said she made her living as a construction worker.

The case is under investigation.

Over the past two months airport customs officers have uncovered several drug trafficking cases, both from and to Vietnam, seizing more than 20 kg of drugs.

On May 19, airport security handed a Vietnamese-Australian woman, Nguyen Thi Minh Loan, over to HCMC Police after finding that she was carrying 1.3 kg of heroin as she was about to leave Vietnam for Australia.

On April 24 customs officers arrested a 32-year-old Vietnamese woman from Binh Thanh District of HCM City who was boarding a flight from HCM City to Sydney with 1.83 kg of heroin in her possession.

The heroin was found packed in seven nylon bags, covered with pepper and coffee and hidden in the lining of her suitcase.

On April 21 airport police detained a Cambodian woman for carrying 5.2 kg of methamphetamine from Benin, a West African country, to Vietnam. She planned to travel on to Cambodia by road after landing.

35-year-old Hom Kosal was caught hiding the white powder in her suitcase when she arrived at the airport on flight QR608 from Qatar, where she transited after departing from Benin.

Kosal told police that she was hired by a man to bring the drugs from Benin with transit through Vietnam for US$2,000.
Earlier, on April 17, airport customs and police caught Nguyen Thi Lanh, 43, a resident of HCMC's Hoc Mon District, carrying 2.6 kg of synthetic drugs from Kenya to Vietnam.

On March 31, the airport seized 5.9 kg of drugs hidden in a suitcase by a Vietnamese person, identified as H.T., who was about to fly to Sydney, Australia.

HCM City curbs traffic congestion

HCM City has been able to reduce traffic congestion and the number of accidents by 26-40 per cent this year, an official said.

So far this year, there has been only two traffic jams that lasted for 30 minutes, 21 cases fewer than in the same period last year, according to Le Toan, deputy director of the Department of Transport.

There have been 268 accidents causing 240 deaths in the period, 30 per cent and 26.38 per cent down year-on-year respectively.

He said his department had used VND99 billion (US$4.75 million) of the VND105 billion allocated by the city to ensure traffic safety, including installing median strips, and remarking lanes.

8 former Vinh Phuc officials indicted for corruption

After more than a year of inquiry, police in Vinh Phuc Province have completed their investigation into the case of abusing power and causing a loss of US$1.44 million to the State budget involving nine defendants, including eight former State officials.

They have proposed that the local prosecutor’s office indict all of the defendants, including two former Party Committee secretaries of the province’s Vinh Yen City, Nguyen Vinh Quyen, 54, and Lai Huu Lan, 63, who have been charged with “abusing position and power”.

These two former secretaries were also chairmen of the city People’s Committee.

Also facing the same charge are Nguyen Xuan Truong, 57, former deputy chairman of the city’s Dong Tam Ward; Nguyen Thi Kim Lien, 54, former director of the city Department of Natural Resources and Environment; Nguyen Thi Ngoc, 41, former director of the Department of Finance and Planning; Nguyen Xuan Lien, 51, former deputy chairman of the province’s Tam Dao District People’s Committee; Vu Van Chuc, 46, an officer at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment; and Duong Dinh Tam, 42, a businessman.

Another former official, Nguyen Van Hoa, former deputy chairman of Vinh Phuc Province People’s Committee, was charged with “being irresponsible and causing serious consequences.”

The instigator of the case is Nguyen Huu Quan, a 42-year-old businessman in Hanoi’s Tay Ho District. Quan fled from Vietnam in 2011 and had been wanted internationally until he was arrested by US police at Dulles international airport in Washington D.C. on February 23, 2012.

As shown in the case file, in 2009 Quyen ordered his subordinates to forge Hoa’s signature in a document to revoke 25 hectares of farmland in Dong Tam Commune. The land was later illegally handed to Quan and Tam to develop an urban project for their own interest.

The land withdrawal and the use of the farming land for the urban project were against the Law on Land and other relevant regulations, causing a total loss of VND30 billion ($1.44 million) to the State budget, investigators said.

In return for the help from these State officials, Quan and Tam gave kickbacks to them. For example, Quan gave Lan a Toyota Camry car worth VND1.1 billion ($52,800).

Besides his offenses in this case, Quan has also been prosecuted for swindling many individuals and companies of a huge amount, VND500 billion (nearly $24 million), in another case, police said.

Specifically, he had mobilized capital from his victims for the Thanh Ha A Cienco 5 project, and then simply appropriated all of the money.

Railway police arrest Pangolin traffickers

Six people were arrested by Ha Noi Railway Station police with 204kg of pangolin on Sunday morning.

The traffickers said they were hired to deliver the pangolins (scaly anteaters) from central Ha Tinh province. To avoid being caught, they hid them in their backpacks.

This is the third time this year Ha Noi Railway Station police have caught pangolin traffickers. They are co-operating with rangers to investigate the case.

Employment opportunity for Vietnamese professionals in Singapore

The Association of Vietnamese Professionals in Singapore will organize the first career networking event for Vietnamese companies in Singapore entitled “Gathering Talents, Connecting Business” at the National University of Singapore on June 23.

The event will provide a good chance for Vietnamese companies to recruit experienced professionals in Singapore as well as cooperating with Singaporean businesses.

First, there will be a meeting with Vietnamese students and experts in Singapore to discuss strategies to attract talents, and then a seminar on cooperative opportunities will be held between Vietnamese and local businesses.  

Dau Van Huan, head of the organizing board, said the number of Vietnamese students studying in Singapore has increased steadily over the past 10 years. Around 8,000 Vietnamese graduates are working at multinational groups in the island nation.

Three die, one critical after drinking meths

Four people were taken to hospital in southern Dong Nai Province on Sunday after drinking alcohol. Three died and the other was in critical condition yesterday, June 4.

One of the dead patients had drunk around 3 litres of alcohol before he was taken to hospital. The alcohol, bought at stores in Tam Hoa village, was of unknown origin.

A hospital spokesperson said the patients were believed to have been intoxicated by methanol in the alcohol.

Vietnamese, RoK youth boost exchange

A group of young people from Deajeon city in the Republic of Korea (RoK) are on a cultural exchange with their peers from the southern province of Binh Duong from June 2-7.

The annual exchange, which started in 2005, aims to boost friendship between the two localities.

During their stay in Vietnam, the 26 youngsters and ten officials from Deajeon will sign an agreement to establish a Vietnam-RoK cooperation centre.

They will also have a chance to stay with Vietnamese families to experience local culture and visit beautiful tourist spots in Binh Duong.

Sua tree choppers turn themselves in

The 11 men who allegedly felled three precious sua trees in a forest inside the Phong Nha – Ke Bang national park in the central province of Quang Binh turned themselves in to local authorities last weekend, Nguyen Van Luong, chairman of Phuc Trach Commune’s People’s Committee said Saturday.

Quang Binh police summoned the men, ten of whom live in Phuc Trach commune, while the other lives in Xuan Trach commune, on May 21, but they insisted on hiding in the forest.

The loggers confessed to having found and chopped down three sua trees, scientifically known as dalbergia tonkinensis, whose wood is highly sought-after for their exorbitant prices, in late March.

After felling the trees, the men divided the logs into 12 parts, each of which costs around VND10 billion (US$480,000) according to the current market price. Nguyen Van Minh, who detected the trees, received two parts.

The loggers then called traders in Quang Binh to sell the first batch of wood, weighing some 6 tons, at VND38 billion, and also charged traders VND7 billion for transporting the logs out of the forest.

The first batch was successfully transported before information on the trees leaked out, sending hundreds of locals rushing into the forest to rob the valuable wood.

Hot floor blamed on electrical short-ciruit

Southern Kien Giang Province's Department of Natural Resources and Environment has discovered the cause of a hot floor at Chung Duc Nhan's house.

After digging under the floor, an exploration crew found there was an electrical short in an underground wire, which was heating up the floor.

Earlier on Thursday, Nhan reported his floor was heating up to 70C.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre