The ring was led by Liao Zhihuai, a 43-year-old Chinese national.

According to the agency, in early August 2023, the department was informed that two Taiwanese people intended to use fishing boats to transport drugs from Vietnam to other countries for consumption via sea routes.

In early September, six suspects in the ring arrived in Vietnam. They booked hotels, rented cars, hired translators, rented warehouses and bought 100 tonnes of cement to gather at a warehouse in Hong Bang district, Hai Phong city. Then, they left the country.

On September 20, two members of the ring entered Vietnam. They moved to the warehouse in Hai Phong and directed the unloading of sacks containing drugs hidden in the warehouse.

Two days later, the agency in coordination with relevant agencies, including police of Hanoi, Hai Phong and Thai Binh, and the Vietnam Immigration Department, simultaneously arrested suspects involved in the case and searched the warehouse where a total of 750kg of ketamine was found. Liao was also taken into custody.

Expanding the investigation into the case, on September 24, the agency collaborated with Ha Tinh police to arrest Pham Duy Khanh, a local resident, who was hired to transport sacks containing drugs to Vietnam. The police seized 22 sacks containing 550kg of ketamine which was hidden in a fake gas tank and below the passenger seat, found after searching his car.

Liao told investigators that he and his accomplices set up a pharmaceutical company, then took advantage of it to buy precursors and chemicals to produce synthetic drugs. Finished drugs are transported to Vietnam via road and gathered in Thai Binh, then brought to Hai Phong for export to third countries, he added.

The suspects' company was licensed to import 64 types of precursors, chemicals, and solvents with an amount of nearly 9,000 tons, worth more than 5.7 million USD within a year, according to the investigators.

Further investigation into the case is underway./.VNA