Vietnamese truck driver caught high on meth

Police in Ha Tinh Province in central Vietnam arrested a truck driver on Friday as he was found carrying pills of methamphetamine on the vehicle and tested positive with the drug.

Le Thanh Hieu, 33, was stopped on a national highway in the afternoon as his truck was tottering and endangering other travelers.

Hieu was carrying 23 ecstasy pills and he also tested positive for the drug.

He said he bought the pills at the Laos border and has been using them for a year.

Drug use is not a criminal offense in Vietnam, but Hieu is being held for illegally storing narcotics.

Trucks often involve in severe road crashes in Vietnam, where traffic accidents kill an average of one person every hour.

Drug using is not rare among Vietnamese truck drivers, who need to survive their heavy workload, according to people familiar with the matter.

An inspection by the transport ministry of 136,000 drivers in 2014 found 526 of them using drugs.