DONG NAI, Vietnam: Police in the southern city of Dong Nai have broken up a transnational drug ring, seizing 18kg of crystal methamphetamine and detaining or summoning more than 100 suspects.
Officers identified the ringleaders as Nguyen Dinh Tín, 39, residing in Dong Nai, and Nguyen Ngoc Tam, 53, in the central province of Nghe An.
The police said they found the pair had bought their drugs from Hoang Tran Hiep, a fugitive from the south-central province of Dak Lak classified as especially dangerous and wanted on drug trafficking charges.
Hiep, 36, known by the aliases Hiep Nhoc and Hiep Den, always carried a military-grade firearm and was prepared to shoot if pursued, police said.
Officers arrested him at 6.30am on late October as he was about to climb into a Toyota Fortuner with fake licence plates.
A coordinated sweep followed, with police detaining or summoning 104 more suspects. They also seized heroin, 1.8kg of ketamine, 1,800 illicit pills, a firearm and ammunition, eight vehicles and 450 million dong (about US$17,600) in cash.
Hiep and his accomplices told investigators that from August until they were caught, they traded about 107kg of synthetic drugs, 10 bricks of heroin and 1,800 pills in deals worth about VND14 billion (about US$548,000).
Police are widening the investigation and gathering evidence to prosecute others linked to the ring. — Vietnam News/ANN
