Vietnam busts largest ever drug trafficking ring
Vietnamese police have busted the country's largest-ever drug ring, arresting 29 suspects so far for trafficking more than 800 kilograms (1,760 pounds) of heroin from neighboring Laos and Cambodia, state-controlled media reported Saturday.
Authorities have issued arrest warrants for another 18 involved in the case, the Ho Chi Minh City Police newspaper said.
The ring was first uncovered in June 2003 when police in central Quang Tri province arrested Nguyen Dinh Hoanh, 51, and his son Nguyen Hoai Nam, 23 after 63 kilograms (138 pounds) of heroin was discovered in their truck as they entered Vietnam from Laos, it said.
Many of the gang members were from central Nghe An province. According to police, the ring trafficked 824 kilograms (1,813 pounds) of heroin from Laos and Cambodia into Vietnam from 1998 until their arrests, it said.
Most of the defendants face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted.
In Vietnam, possessing, trading or trafficking 600 grams (1.32 pounds) of heroin or 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of opium is punishable by death or life imprisonment.
The Associated Press - September 25, 2004.
Vietnam jails three border guards for intercepting gasoline bound for Cambodia
Three Vietnamese border guards were given sentences ranging up to 12 years in prison Friday for intercepting and selling gasoline bound for Cambodia, state-controlled media reported.
A military court in southern Tien Giang province sentenced Senior Lt. Col. Nguyen Van Dui, former head of the border guard station in An Giang province, to 12 years in jail on smuggling charges at the end of the two-day trial Friday, the official Vietnam News Agency said.
Border guard staff members Capt. Nguyen Thanh Hiep and Lt. Duong Quoc Trieu, were sentenced to eight years and four years, respectively, on the same charges, VNA said.
As many as 27 customs officials and private traders collaborated with Dui and others to falsify documents, allowing them to intercept and sell the imported fuel shipments that were earmarked for resale in neighboring Cambodia.
The others have been arrested but it was unclear when they would go to trial.
The collaborators sold more than 27,000 tons of gasoline destined for Cambodia between 1998 and 2002, causing losses of US$5 million (euro 4.1 million) in taxes to Hanoi, VNA said.
The court ordered the confiscation of 3.74 billion dong (US$238,000; euro 195,000) that the three convicted men pocketed from the illegal deal, it said.
The Associated Press - September 24, 2004.
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