Eight Lao nationals arrested for smuggling 200 kg of drugs into Vietnam

Name: Eight Lao nationals arrested for smuggling 200 kg of drugs into Vietnam
Uploaded: 2024-05-31T07:51:27+07:00
Duration: 1 min 2 s
Description: Vietnam border guards arrested eight Laos nationals on Thursday for trafficking nearly 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of illegal drugs into the country via the border in central Vietnam's Quang Nam Province.

By AFP, VNA May 30, 2024 | 04:51 pm PT

One of eight Lao nationals is held behind a table of drugs seized at the Vietnam-Laos border on May 30, 2024. Photo by Quang Nam Border Guard

Vietnam border guards arrested eight Laos nationals on Thursday for trafficking nearly 200 kilograms (441 pounds) of illegal drugs into the country via the border in central Vietnam's Quang Nam Province.

Three men and five women traveling in a car with a Laotian number plate were arrested at a border gate in Quang Nam with 198 kilos of drugs in packets the size of tea bags.

Border guards and police confiscated 15.4 kilos of heroin and 181 kilos of other types of synthetic drugs.

Southeast Asia is a major center for synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine, much of it produced in the border regions of Myanmar.

The mountainous 2,300-kilometer (1,429-mile) Laos-Vietnam border has long been a significant smuggling route.

Vietnam has notoriously tough drug laws, and in January, nine people were sentenced to death and two others to life in prison for their involvement in a trafficking ring from Laos.

Gần 200 kg ma túy chất đầy ôtô — Police inspect the drugs trafficked into Vietnam via the Vietnam - Lao border in Quang Nam Province, May 30, 2024. Video by Quang Nam Border Guard