TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Vietnam police bust massive meth haul
Change Size
Heroine smugglers (in blue) standing during their trial at a local court room on April 27, 2017 in Hanoi, Vietnam has sentenced eight drug traffickers to death for smuggling 300 kilos (660 pounds) of heroin to China, some of it in gas cylinders, according to state media on April 28, 2017.
STR / AFP (AFP/-)
V
ietnam police discovered a massive haul of suspected methamphetamine worth an estimated $3 million after pulling over a speeding truck, authorities said Tuesday, the latest major bust in a country where synthetic drug use is on the rise.
Two men managed to escape the scene but one of them who was arrested later, a Laotian, said he was promised $10,000 to deliver the drugs to Danang city, a tourist hub on Vietnam's central coast.
Police are still searching for the second suspect who is a Vietnamese national, an officer told AFP Tuesday.
"We found 12 green bags containing small packets of a white substance weighing a total of 309 kilograms (680 pounds)," the officer said.
Though Vietnam has some of the toughest drug laws in the world, it is a popular transport hub and destination market for narcotics smuggled in from the notorious "Golden Triangle" lawless border zone that straddles Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.
Opium and heroin have long been the drug of choice among older users, but young people are increasingly turning to lab-made pills and powders such as Ecstasy, ketamine and meth.
Many synthetic drugs enter Vietnam from neighbouring countries, though police in recent months have busted several local labs.
There are 220,000 registered drug users in the country, according to official data, and the use of synthetic substances rose seven percent between 2001 and 2016.
Officials and advocates have warned against the dangers of drug use after seven Vietnamese people died from overdoses at an electronic music festival in Hanoi last month.
