From the left: Tran Thi Thanh Lan, Vo Thi Lam, Tran Thi Ni and Tran Thi Ba. |
On January 9, Ho Chi Minh City police announced to arrest and prosecute four women, including: Tran Thi Thanh Lan (born in 1966), Vo Thi Lam (born 1984), Pham Thi Ni (1964) - all from Loc Ninh district, Binh Phuoc province) and Tran Thi Ba (1994), from Hoa Thanh district, Tay Ninh province for drug trading.
This is a very large-scale drug ring led by Tran Thi Thanh Lan that transported narcotics from Cambodia to Vietnam for consumption. This ring was detected over half of a year ago and broken on January 4.
In late October 2012, the first member in this ring - Nguyen Thi Thanh (1962, from District 4, Ho Chi Minh City) – was arrested while carrying a backpack containing 3 kg of drugs on the bus from Cambodia on Pham Ngu Lao Street, District 1, HCM City.
From Thanh’s testimony, the police arrested another "chain" in the female drug ring - Mai Thuy, in Tan Phu district, Ho Chi Minh City.
Thuy confessed that she hired Thanh to transfer drugs from Cambodia to HCM City. However, Thuy was hired by a mysterious woman named Tran Thi Thanh Lan.
In early January 2013, the investigators identified traces and how the activities of the drug line led by Lan.
On January 4, Lan and three women - Lam, Ni and Be – was on a bus from Cambodia to Vietnam through the border gate in Tay Ninh province. When the bus stopped on Cong Hoa Street, Ward 13, Tan Binh District, four ladies were invited to the police station.
Searching the luggage of four women, the police did not find out anything but when policewomen searched the women’s bodies, they detected packs of drugs hidden in bras, underwear, coats, shoes soles. On average, each woman carried more than 1.2 kg, totaling 4.3 kg of drugs.
Lan claimed to be a hairdresser who became a drug trafficker due to difficult life. She induced some hairdressers in her hometown - Loc Ninh district, Binh Phuoc province, to join this ring.
Each trip, this ring transported several kilos of drugs from Cambodia to Vietnam. The transporter was paid $1,400 each/trip.
Dam De