FWD: [avsl-l] VIETNAM: `Major' Heroin Smuggling Cases Uncovered

[vuca@envi.env.civil.saitama-u.ac.jp (Vu Thanh Ca)]

sent to avsl-l by Stephen R Denney <sdenney@uclink.berkeley.edu> (by way of
vern@coombs.anu.edu.au (Vern Weitzel))

Subslug: [Article by T.S.:"Hanoi Security Service Broke Three
Major Narcotics Trafficking, Smuggling Cases"]

[FBIS Translated Text] On 14 April, the Hanoi Security
Service held a press conference to disclose they have
recently uncovered three major narcotics
trafficking/smuggling cases.
On 9 April, the Hanoi Security Counternarcotics Unit,
working with the Ha Tinh and Huong Son District security
forces, uncovered and seized 20 bricks of heroin weighing
7.2 kilograms. The heroin was concealed in a secret
compartment under the floor of a car owned by Thao Bna Phan
and driven by Thao Phu Vieng, both Laotians. The two
admitted that since October 1996, they have made six drug
smuggling runs into Vietnam, carrying a total of 75 bricks
of heroin weighing 15.5 kilograms.
Also on 9 April, the Hanoi Security Service arrested in
Vinh City two other Lao nationals and residents of Vinh
City, Thao Xieng Mi and his wife Nang Som, along with two
local Vietnamese, Nguyen Dinh Loi and Nguyen Thi Lan, on
charges of drug trafficking. The Hanoi security agents
confiscated 20 bricks of heroin, 3.7 grams of heroin powder,
100 grams of opium, $36,000 in cash, 18 million dong (about
$1,700), two cars, and one pistol. Further investigation is
being carried out to search for other people involved in
this drug ring.
On 7 April, the Ba Dinh Ward Public Security Service
caught Nguyen Van Trong transporting 6.5 kilograms of opium
in Ky Son City, Hoa Binh Province.
In another case, near midnight on 13 April, Hanoi
security agents confiscated nearly 2 billion dong (about
$180,000) worth of contraband merchandise smuggled in from
China by train.

THIS REPORT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION
IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS.