Nine Laotians arrested for transporting 100 kg of meth

Le Van Phuong, head of Quang Tri border guards, on Tuesday said authorities caught five Lao people illegally transporting drugs on a national highway section running through Huong Hoa District on March 30, Tuoi Tre reported.

The five arrested people are aged between 25 and 39 years old. Additional investigations resulted in the arrest of four other Lao people hiding in the district, aged between 23 and 27.

The suspects all admitted that the goods they were transporting were drugs.

One said he was hired by a man in Vientiane to transport 100 packets of drugs from Laos to a border gate in Ha Tinh, then deliver them to a Vietnamese man in Quang Tri. The group would be paid ₭30 million (US$1,400) for the job.

Before the job could be finished, however, they were arrested.

Phuong said the case has been the largest drug bust ever seen in the area. An investigation is ongoing.