Vietnam Busts Biggest Drug Smuggling Ring
HANOI - Vietnam police have uncovered the
communist-ruled country's biggest drug trafficking ring and
detained 120 people, including police and government officials,
official media reported Tuesday.
Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said police had confiscated
around $442,000, as well as 339.5 taels (12.7 kg or 28 lb) of
gold and 11 houses.
``According to sources from the police ministry, the anti-drug
squad is continuing to discover the biggest ever national drug
trafficking ring,'' the paper said.
It added that one of those detained had confessed to trafficking
272.3 kg (600 lb) of heroin and 1,000 kg of opium.
The paper listed no names and specified no time-scale for the
operation of the ring.
``The case began when a man was detained after being found
with two cakes of heroin hidden in the school case of an
eight-year-old boy,'' the paper said.
It added that initial investigations should be completed by the
end of September and that the first 30 people would be
prosecuted soon after.
Vietnam, which frequently frets about soaring drug use and
trafficking in the country, last year sentenced 49 people to death
and arrested 18,000 others for drug-related crimes, official
media has reported.
In early 1998, a 35-man firing squad executed seven men who
had been identified as kingpins in the then largest drug case,
which saw convictions for a number of senior police, border
guards and customs officials.
Reuters - August 24, 1999.
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