The drug-crime investigation division under the Ministry of Public Security on Friday said Liao Zhi Huai, 43, along with six others, had been put under investigation for illegal drug trading.
Huai said he and others established a pharmaceutical firm abroad, then bought chemicals to create narcotics. The drugs were then transported to Vietnam by land, before being shipped to a third country.
In September, six Taiwanese suspects entered Vietnam, rented hotels, vehicles and interpreters to buy 100 tons of cement, before collecting it at a storage facility in Hai Phong’s Hong Bang District.
The police said the cement was used to hide batches of drugs worth millions of U.S. dollars, which would be shipped overseas.
On September 20, Hoai and another person who operated the drug trafficking ring entered Vietnam, and travelled to Hai Phong to arrange transportation of the drugs.
Two days later, the police busted their operation, seizing 30 bags of ‘cement’, weighing 25 kg each. Forensic analysis revealed that the bags contained 750 kg of ketamine.
The police said that over the past year, companies belonging to the drug trafficking ring have imported 9,000 tons of 64 chemicals, worth over $5.7 million, to create the drugs.
In the first 11 months of 2023, Vietnamese police had busted around 24,800 drug cases, arresting around 38,700 drug-related suspects and seizing tons of narcotics of various kinds.