Lao man caught trafficking 10 kg of meth into Vietnam

The border guards caught Xang Thong Buoi La Van, 29, at around 9:30 a.m. when he'd just crossed the Xe Pon River at the Vietnam-Lao border. He had hidden the drugs in bamboo baskets.

He confessed to the police that the drugs were bought in Laos and he had transported them overnight from Savannakhet Province to the border to avoid discovery. Once at the border, he looked for ways to enter Vietnam and decided to cross the river.

The police of central Quang Tri Province are investigating the case further.

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

On May 23, Vietnamese border guards and Lao police caught three Lao nationals planning to smuggle 100,000 ecstasy pills from Laos to Vietnam.

Drug trafficking and consumption have persisted and worsened in Vietnam over the last few years though the country has some of the world’s toughest laws, including death sentences for producing and smuggling the banned substances.

Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine face the death penalty. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death.