Five Laotians caught smuggling 60,000 ecstasy pills into Vietnam

Borders in the central Quang Tri Province teamed up with Lao police to capture the drug runners, aged between 20 and 35, near Dansavan international border gate in Savannakhet Province.

Officers seized 60,000 ecstasy pills, a Ford car, a motorbike, 11 smartphones and a knife.

Colonel Le Van Phuong, commander of Quang Tri Border Guard, said the suspects were an important link in a trafficking ring active between northern Laos, Savannakhet and Vietnam.

The arrested men were handed over to Lao police for further investigation.

Quang Tri border guards said they five are part of a ring they have kept tabs on since February. So far, they have seized 479,000 ecstasy pills worth more than VND11 billion ($674,650) from the operation.

Last month, three Laotians were sentenced to death while two others got 20 years each for trafficking 28 kg of heroin and meth into Vietnam.

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