Ex-cops jailed for stealing drugs from law enforcement agency

A court in the northern Son La Province on Wednesday sentenced Nguyen Van Thuong, 32, and Nguyen Tung Lam, 30, to 20 years each, and Pham Tuan, 38, to 18 years.

Former officers Thuong and Lam broke into and burgled many companies in the area. On November 10 last year they and Tuan, a motorbike repairman, broke into the Son La Civil Judgment Enforcement Administration and stole 7.9 kilograms of heroin, 3.4 kilograms of synthetic drugs and a mobile phone.

After realizing they had stolen a huge quantity of drugs, they turned themselves in to the police.

Vietnam is a key trafficking hub for narcotics from the Golden Triangle, an intersection of China, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar that is the world's second largest drug producing area after the Golden Crescent in South Asia.

The country has some 250,000 registered addicts, but the actual figures are thought to be much higher.