The fierce fight against drug crime in Nghe An

Huge amount of evidence in the cases

In mid-April, after investigation and surveillance, Nghe An police detectives discovered a group of people in a transnational drug trafficking ring showing signs of dispersing evidence. Faced with the intense hunt of the authorities, the people in this ring had to “abandon their belongings and run for their lives”.

They then dumped 23 sacks containing 700 kg of crystal meth in the middle of a salt field in Quynh Thuan commune, Quynh Luu district, and quickly fled. This ring was led by foreigners, who colluded with local people to rent a place to store drugs as a transit point....

Colonel Nguyen Manh Hung - Deputy Director of Nghe An Police (left), directly commanded many raids to arrest drug criminals. Photo: File

Just a few days after discovering the huge amount of evidence, the police arrested many related subjects and seized more drugs and other evidence. The police also wanted two Taiwanese people who were believed to be the ringleaders. This is one of the biggest drug cases ever discovered in Nghe An.

What shocked the public was that while previously the amount of drugs was usually calculated in grams, now it has to be converted to quintals, even tons. Just a few days before this arrest, in Vinh City, the authorities also arrested many subjects, seizing hundreds of kilograms of other crystal meth....

Drug evidence in some recent cases amounted to hundreds of kilograms. Photo: Archive

The leader of Nghe An Provincial Police admitted that the amount of drugs smuggled across the border into Nghe An is still large. Recently, the unit has discovered many drug trafficking and trafficking rings from Laos into Nghe An for consumption or transit to other localities. Drug crimes are increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect, the areas of operation of the subjects are wide, many groups of subjects take advantage of the border areas and rugged mountainous areas to operate. The methods and tricks of the criminals are reckless, ready to use hot weapons to fight back against the authorities when discovered and arrested, causing difficulties and dangers for the fight and arrest.

Therefore, the investigation process and the arrest force have encountered many difficulties and hardships in investigating and searching for criminals. In many cases, the subjects fought back fiercely, causing officers and soldiers to be injured while on duty. Since the beginning of the year, 10 officers and soldiers of the police force have been injured and treated for HIV exposure during the process of arresting drug criminals.

Drug criminals' weapons that police seized after a chase in the forest. File photo

Increase in synthetic drugs

In addition to traditional drugs such as heroin, opium, marijuana, etc., in recent years, the amount of synthetic drugs detected in Nghe An has tended to increase. If previously, this amount of drugs only accounted for about 10% of the total amount of drugs seized, now, synthetic drugs account for nearly 70% of the total amount of drugs seized. Among them, there are many types that are extremely toxic, cause strong hallucinations, and seriously affect the health of users.

Huge amount of crystal meth hidden in speakers discovered by police. File photo

Crime and drug abuse are the source of many types of crime. Drug crimes are becoming more and more complicated, putting our country at risk of becoming an international drug transit area. And Nghe An is one of the key areas for this type of crime.

Meanwhile, currently, in Nghe An, the number of drug addicts, although decreasing, is still high, addicts tend to be younger, the source of "demand" for drugs is still very large. Meanwhile, drugs are increasingly diverse, many new types of drugs have appeared that are not on the regulated list, so it is difficult to detect and handle. In addition, the situation of drug addicts using drugs with paranoid mentality, "stoned" and committing violations, committing crimes that are dangerous to society tends to increase, many subjects commit acts that cause confusion and anger to the people.

Not long ago, in Vinh City, Le Ngoc Ha (residing in Hong Son Ward), while high on drugs, threw her child from the roof of the second floor to the ground, causing public panic. Or the case of Mong Van Hoa, residing in Tien Phong Commune, Que Phong District, who used drugs to strangle his wife, causing her death. And Lo Minh Giang, residing in Hung Dung Ward, Vinh City, showed signs of being high on drugs and used a broken glass bottle to hold it against his daughter's neck....

Nghe An police during a drug crime raid. Photo: Archive

In addition, although there have been many efforts in international cooperation in drug prevention, control and eradication with Lao provinces, in general, there are still some limitations and difficulties, especially difficulties in the common legal framework and legal regulations of each country. The coordination between the functional forces of Nghe An province and Lao provinces has not really gone into depth, lacked synchronization, and has not implemented strategic and long-term solutions. Therefore, the implementation of professional measures to combat and prevent drugs from afar, from the border still faces many difficulties, obstacles, and low efficiency, leading to the failure to thoroughly combat the crime of drug trafficking and smuggling across the border. “In this area, many people flee to Laos as soon as they see any movement, while the pursuit and arrest of wanted people is very difficult. Once, we discovered a wanted person and asked the local authorities in Laos to coordinate to arrest him, but they were closed after office hours, so we had to wait until the next day. By the time we waited until tomorrow, the person had already fled...”, said Lieutenant Colonel Lo Van Thao - Deputy Chief of Ky Son District Police.

In the period of 2016 - 2019, the Police, Border Guard and Customs forces of Nghe An province detected and arrested 4,923 cases, 6,027 drug criminals, seized more than 1.6 tons of drugs of all kinds; an increase of 35.6% in the number of cases, an increase of 25.8% in the number of criminals and the amount of drugs seized increased 4 times compared to the previous period. Of which, 148 hotspots and more than 650 retail points, 158 large, transnational drug crime rings and gangs were eliminated; complexity was reduced in 120 communes, wards and towns; 72 communes, wards and towns were kept drug-free; Organized armed attacks to eliminate and expel 29 groups of people carrying "hot" weapons who were illegally buying and selling drugs in border districts, killed 1 person, arrested 32 people, seized hundreds of kilograms of various drugs and many dangerous weapons.