Police makes largest ketamine haul ever in Vietnam

By Quoc Thang    May 12, 2019 | 12:21 am PT
Police arrested two Taiwanese and one Chinese and seized 500 kilos of ketamine, a synthetic drug, on the outskirts of HCMC Saturday.
Police check the ketamine they seize in Ho Chi Minh Citys outskirts on May 11, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Quoc Thang

Police check the ketamine they seize in Ho Chi Minh City's outskirts on May 11, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Quoc Thang

The Ministry of Public Security's drug crime investigation department coordinated with police and customs officers in Ho Chi Minh City arrested Taiwanese Liu Ming Yang, 34, and Jhu Minh Jyun, 32, and Chinese Su Jia Mei, 33.

They also held a Vietnamese Taiwanese woman, Nguyen Thi Thu Van, 36, girlfriend of Jhu, as they raided warehouses in Binh Chanh, Tan Phu and Tan Binh districts and detected 500 kilos ketamine hidden in four packaging printers on a seven-seat car.

The drug is worth over VND500 billion ($21.42 million) in total, according to the police, who said this is the largest amount of ketamine that has ever been seized in the nation.

Liu has been identified as the leader of this drug ring.

Police escort Liu Ming Yang, the Taiwanese leader of the ketamine ring. Photo by VnExpress/Quoc Thang

Police escort Liu Ming Yang, the Taiwanese leader of the ketamine ring. Photo by VnExpress/Quoc Thang

As guided by Liu, Jhu received four packaging printers from China at Mong Cai Border Gate in Quang Ninh Province in northern Vietnam on March 14.

He then took them to Binh Tan District before moving them to Binh Chanh District.

The group was about to transfer the drug to a third market as they got busted.

This case has added proofs to cement concerns that HCMC has now become a drug transit hub.

Vietnam’s biggest city made three massive drug seizures in the last two weeks of March. In all cases the drugs originated from the Golden Triangle, and in two of them, the drugs were on the way to Taiwan and the Philippines. Golden Triangle is 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 March 20, police seized 300 kilos of meth that were on the way to Taiwan. Police said the ring, led by a Chinese man, operated nationwide and was linked to two seizures of around 300 kilos each in central Vietnam last October and February. They also discovered that the gang transported meth to the Philippines.

On March 22, Vietnamese customs and the Philippine police seized 270 kilos of meth the gang had transported to the Philippines by sea.

Five days later, police arrested two Taiwanese men and a Vietnamese driver who were transporting more than 300 kilos of heroin on the city’s outskirts.

Top police officers have since warned that HCMC has become a transit point for drug trafficking, due to its logistics infrastructure.

The repeated haul of huge amounts of drugs is happening despite Vietnam having some of the world’s toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or cocaine or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine could 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.

 
 
go to top