Drug crime escalates at Vietnam – China border

By Xuan Ngoc   July 29, 2016 | 12:36 am PT
Traffickers are conspiring with officials to get their shipments across.

Vietnam's northern border has become a hub for synthetic drug trafficking, with 983 kg of drugs seized in 2015, an increase of 631kg compared to the previous year.

Drugs have been found in petrol tankers and concealed in wooden planks to avoid detection, but traffickers are also conspiring with authorities to get them through the border gate, according to the sixth bilateral meeting on drug control between Vietnam and China in Vietnam’s central province of Khanh Hoa on July 28.

At the meeting held by the ministries of Public Security from both Vietnam and China, China's National Narcotics Control Commission admitted that drugs entering the country come primarily from the "Golden Triangle": Myanmar Laos and Cambodia. Vietnam is an interchange for drugs originating from the infamous area, with 78 drug crimes relating to Vietnam reported from 2015 to the first half of 2016.

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Dong Dai Loc, deputy director of Vietnam's General Police Department, underlines the complicated situation of drug crime on the border between Vietnam and China. Photo from VnExpress/X.N

Dong Dai Loc, deputy director of Vietnam’s General Police Department, said that the fight against drug crime is complicated because the two countries are facing multinational gangs. 

Vietnam's drug crime investigation police department said that traffickers have become more sophisticated and dangerous by conspiring with authorities and using different means to get the drugs across Vietnam's borders.

“Synthetic drugs cost less than VND300 million (over $13,000)/kg and are widely available. They will have a negative impact on society in the future,” the Police Department said in a statement.

Chinese officials underlined that the Golden Triangle, which is a harsh mountainous area, is the main drug source in the region, producing an estimated 60 tons each year. In 2015, police in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan and Guizhou siezed 7.3 tons of heroin and 11.2 tons of methamphetamine pills.

An Guojun, deputy secretary-general of China's National Narcotics Control Commission, said: “The two nations need to strengthen and improve anti-drug cooperation to detect and stamp out multi-national gangs, gangs especially in the border areas.”

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