Drug trial news (May 3)

[Dam Son <son@fermi.phys.washington.edu>]

May 03: Hanoi Drug Defendant Confesses 

HANOI (AP) -- The top defendant in Vietnam's largest-ever drug trial
has confessed to transporting and storing heroin as part of a
multinational narcotics ring involving law enforcement and border
agencies.

Vu Xuan Truong, a former police inspector, is one of 22 people charged
with smuggling hundreds of pounds of heroin across the Laotian border
and into the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.

Truong, who prosecutors say was the leader of the ring, said Friday
that he held the heroin for friends and moved it inside Vietnam -- but
denied smuggling any across the border, the state-run Labor newspaper
reported.

``It is a complex trick used by drug traders,'' Truong was quoted as
saying by Labor. ``You ask a police captain to keep the heroin and it
is safest.''

The presiding judge has predicted death sentences for up to 10 of the
defendants, who are accused of using vehicles from the powerful
Interior Ministry to smuggle heroin from Laos. Truong is among those
likely to face execution. Presumption of guilt is the norm in
Vietnam's criminal justice system, with trials largely aimed at
determining punishment.

The trial adjourned today and was set to resume Monday. Twelve more
people will face trial at a later date.

The trial was closed to foreign reporters after Truong threatened to
implicate top officials in the Interior Ministry, which controls
border security.

With its carefully controlled media coverage of the trial, the
Vietnamese government hopes to publicize its efforts to clamp down on
drug use and trafficking, while censoring testimony that could mar the
ministry's reputation.

Truong's confession came during the trial's opening day, but was
reported today in Vietnam's state-controlled media.

Among the defendants are 11 police officers, border guards and customs
inspectors. All face drug smuggling and transportation charges along
with a range of weapons charges in modern Vietnam's largest narcotics
case ever.

``In order to secure the shipping of narcotics into Vietnam and
distribute it, Truong and his associates have used every trick to
influence some government officials,'' chief prosecutor Nguyen Van Tu
told the jury and panel of five judges.

Tu said an intricate system was used to smuggle heroin in false car
doors and hollowed-out truck floorboards.

Vietnam is working to stem the flow of illegal drugs into its cities
through stiff penalties and a public campaign on the dangers of
narcotics.
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