Provincial Police Director: Crime and drug abuse situation remains complicated

On the afternoon of December 11, at the 12th session, the 17th Nghe An Provincial People's Council questioned the leaders of Nghe An Provincial Police about the work of fighting and preventing drugs.

Overview of the question and answer session at the 12th session of the 17th Provincial People's Council. Photo: Thanh Cuong

"Impatient" because of the increase in drug crimes

Responding to the question raised by delegate Tran Duy Ngoan, Hoang Mai town, why is the drug situation in Nghe An so complicated? The Director of the Provincial Police announced data showing that drugs are currently increasing very strongly. Accordingly, in the period 2012 - 2015, on average only about 907 cases were detected each year, however from 2016 - 2019, on average 1,231 cases were detected each year, mechanically increasing by 324 cases, the number of subjects increased by 310, the amount of drugs increased by 4 times.

“In 2012, the provincial police arrested 871 cases, but in 2019, we arrested 1,501 cases, nearly double. This is a very urgent issue,” said Mr. Cau, at the same time raising the question, why is the fight against drugs increasing despite strong efforts? Is it a failure?

The “Commander” of the Public Security sector affirmed that the fight to arrest many subjects and solve many drug cases is an achievement, but along with that is the downside, showing that negativity is increasing very strongly. If we cannot arrest them, the social situation of the province will get worse, so he said that there still needs to be solidarity, special measures, and higher determination in this fight.

Delegate Tran Duy Ngoan, Hoang Mai town, speaks in questioning. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The reason is that the number of drug crimes is complicated and tends to increase, due to the long border, nearly 80% of the amount of drugs smuggled from the Lao border into Nghe An. Nghe An is located near the "golden triangle" - the world's largest drug production center. The profits from drug trafficking are "super profitable", making the problem of drug trafficking and transportation much more complicated.

In addition, Mr. Nguyen Huu Cau also frankly pointed out that the management of drug addicts, the sense of responsibility of drug prevention and control agencies, and subjective factors have not been as expected, contributing to the reason why the drug situation is higher year after year.

“We predict that it will increase to a saturation point, then decrease,” General Cau said, affirming that drug crimes are hidden crimes. If the police, border guards, and customs cannot catch them, society will suffer the consequences, so it is necessary to fight them fiercely.

The head of the provincial police also admitted that there was drug manufacturing but the quantity was not large. The key is still to prevent the supply of drugs from the border into Nghe An.

Police forces surrounded and arrested a group of drug traffickers in Vinh City in April 2019. Photo: NL

Delegate Hoang Thanh Binh, Vinh City, asked about the current situation, causes and solutions to the trend of younger drug users. Regarding this content, Major General Nguyen Huu Cau said that this is an extremely difficult problem. The more these subjects are in society, the greater the risk of committing crimes. “At the National Assembly as well as at the Provincial People's Council, we still recommend sending these addicts to rehabilitation centers. There are people who think that it is necessary to reduce rehabilitation at the centers, but our point of view is that it cannot be reduced, but we need to invest more to bring addicts here.”

The legal system on drugs is lacking in uniformity.

According to Major General Nguyen Huu Cau, in order to effectively combat drug crimes, it is necessary to prioritize centralized drug rehabilitation; the Provincial People's Council issued a specialized resolution on a number of measures to improve the effectiveness of drug prevention and control in Nghe An; and increase funding for crime and social evil prevention and control in the coming time.

In addition, he said, it is necessary to invest resources in drug prevention. “The more budget is wasted, the greater the consequences will be because voluntary drug rehabilitation will never be successful,” the provincial police chief said about the proposal to focus on centralized drug rehabilitation.

In addition, he also said that it is necessary to build a synchronous legal system on drug prevention. For example, the current Law on Handling Administrative Violations stipulates that people aged 18 and over can be sent to drug rehabilitation centers, and assigns this authority to the People's Court, but this contradicts the Law on Drug Prevention and Control, which stipulates that people aged 12 and over can be sent to drug rehabilitation centers, and assigns this authority to the Chairman of the District People's Committee. Therefore, it is necessary to amend it accordingly.

Delegate Tran Xuan Quang, Nghi Loc district, questions. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Or in handling the illegal use of drugs at entertainment establishments with conditions such as dance clubs, restaurants, bars, karaoke, according to the questions of delegate Tran Xuan Quang, delegate Nghi Loc, Major General Nguyen Huu Cau said there are still shortcomings.

Specifically, currently, in Nghe An, there are 3,276 business establishments with security and order conditions. From 2017 to now, Nghe An Police have discovered 22 cases of drug use in restaurants, dance clubs, and karaoke bars with the largest number of subjects being 11-12 subjects/case or less.

However, according to Major General Nguyen Huu Cau, the handling process is extremely difficult. "Currently, some young people and children live very casually, inviting drugs on birthdays and happy events," the Provincial Police Director worried and said that according to the law, the crime of organizing illegal use of drugs is stipulated in Circular 17, if an addict organizes another addict to illegally use drugs, then he or she does not commit the crime of organizing drug use even though they have all the acts.

Therefore, the authorities can only handle three things: addicts are punished for administrative violations, and records are made to send them to rehabilitation facilities if they meet the conditions; and businesses with conditions are punished if they turn a blind eye.

However, out of 22 detected cases, only 3 establishments ignored the drug use and were punished. In particular, handling drug users is difficult. "There are currently nearly 180 cases of drug addicts organizing others to illegally use drugs, with sufficient grounds to handle the act of organizing illegal drug use, but due to the provisions of Circular 17, they cannot be handled," informed the head of Nghe An Provincial Police.

Giving the above evidence, General Nguyen Huu Cau suggested that the shortcomings and loopholes in the law must be amended and overcome. In addition, given the nature of drug crimes, “there must definitely be very special measures to prevent and combat drugs.”

Major General Nguyen Huu Cau answers questions. Photo: Thanh Cuong

On the other hand, he also said that it is necessary to overcome the division of forces fighting against drug crimes. "The police cannot enter border areas, and when fighting outside the border, the police cooperate but sometimes they do and sometimes they don't, so it is necessary to not divide the areas to ensure the fight," he said, adding that the police force will establish specialized anti-drug teams at the district level. Currently in Nghe An, only Vinh City Police and Dien Chau District Police have such teams.

Representatives of the provincial Border Guard and the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs also answered additional questions related to this work.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Son - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council concluded the questioning content. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Concluding this questioning session, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Son - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council acknowledged the very important results in the work of preventing crime and drug abuse, highly appreciated the efforts of sectors and localities, in which the police as the core force, presided over and achieved outstanding results.

However, the meeting chairman also noted that, through listening to the report, as well as from practice, it is necessary to affirm that Nghe An is still a key drug center, and if not taken seriously, it is at risk of becoming a drug transit point for the whole country.

In order to effectively combat drug crimes, the Chairman of the People's Council of Nghe An province noted that there must be awareness not to "outsource" this work to the police, border guards, and customs forces, but to identify this as a common responsibility. The police force needs to continue to advise to enhance the role of Party committees, authorities, organizations, sectors, and levels in this task; include it in the classification criteria, and improve the effectiveness of the nationwide movement to prevent and combat drugs...

In addition, all levels and sectors must step up propaganda and warnings about drugs. Special attention must be paid to youth, teenagers, key areas, and high-risk areas, striving for 100% of communes, wards, towns, agencies, and schools to do a good job of propaganda.

The police force continues to closely coordinate with specialized forces, doing a good job of international cooperation, to strongly and accurately attack drug dens, gangs, lines, and subjects; investigate, prosecute, and try strictly and lawfully; control borders and border gates well to limit drug smuggling from the beginning; focus on combined strength to transform key drug-related areas...

On the other hand, we must do a good job of improving the effectiveness of drug rehabilitation. In the near future, the Provincial People's Council will conduct a supervision of drug rehabilitation facilities, re-evaluate and propose upgrading and providing these facilities to meet practical requirements, focusing on centralized drug rehabilitation, focusing on socialization in drug rehabilitation, vocational training and job creation after rehabilitation...

According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Son, although Nghe An is currently a small-scale drug production and processing area, it is necessary to strengthen management to minimize and prevent drug production in Nghe An province.

The shortcomings in policies, forces, and conditions for the fight against drugs were noted by the Provincial People's Council and the Provincial People's Committee was requested to prepare a resolution on drug prevention and control and submit it to the Provincial People's Council for approval in the coming time.