Nigerians arrested at Laos-Vietnam border trafficking drugs

The arrests happened after 3.2 kilograms of meth was found in a bus during a police raid at the Lao Bao international border gate at 4 a.m. last Friday.

With no claimants to the drugs, an investigation was launched, local authorities told VnExpress Monday.

At 8:30 a.m. on the same day, authorities caught Ekene Etemba, 29, at Lang Vay Village in Tan Long Commune, about 10 km from the Lao Bao international border gate, with four kilograms of meth.

Ekene Etemba, 29, a Nigerian national, has admitted to bringing drugs to Vietnam. Photo by VnExpress/Manh Hung.

About two hours and a half later, the investigation led them to discover another bag of meth weighing 7.5 kilograms, again claimed by no one, in a restaurant in Lao Bao Town, 3 km from the border gate.

Meanwhile, Omeje Jonson Chibu, 20, who was detained on the same day for illegal entry to Vietnam at the Lao Bao international border gate, admitted the 7.5 kg package was his.

Omeje Jonson, 20, another Nigerian citizen was arrested for being part of an international drug trafficking scheme on September 20, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Manh Hung.

The Nigerians also admitted the drug package found on the bus earlier belonged to them. They were part of a drug trafficking scheme to bring the illegal item from Thailand, through Laos and Vietnam as transits to other countries, they told the authorities.

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.

Despite the country having some of the world's toughtest drug laws, including dealth penalty for smuggling and trading, drug operations have been busted almost every week.