Breaking up Long Luong drug den: People are haunted, officials fear being attacked
Although Nguyen Thanh Tuan and Nguyen Van Thuan have been eliminated, the people of Ta De village, Long Luong commune (Van Ho, Son La) are still haunted by the two notorious drug lords. Even the commune officials who were sent to control the situation are still afraid of being attacked and harassed.
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| The house of Thuan "one-eyed" in Ta De village. Photo: Nguyen Hoan |
Haunted villagers
On July 4, a week after the raid and killing of two drug lords Nguyen Thanh Tuan (born in 1983, from Thach That district, Hanoi) and Nguyen Van Thuan (born in 1984, also known as Thuan "chot", from Thanh Liem district, Ha Nam province), the road to Ta De village, Long Luong commune (Van Ho, Son La) no longer has an armed police checkpoint. However, there are still regular patrols by militia and local police.
About 15km from Long Luong Commune People's Committee, the headquarters of boss Nguyen Thanh Tuan is located in the middle of Ta De valley, surrounded by mountains and forests. The entire row of 4 houses of the boss, hundreds of square meters in area, has been flattened, leaving only piles of rubble. Many bullet holes from the previous gunfight are still left on the cracked walls. Around this row of houses are scattered broken objects and furniture. The mysterious basement where Tuan and his followers fought to the death has been buried.
Although Tuan, Thuan and their followers were eliminated, the haunting image of the two notorious drug lords still makes people afraid. Together with his wife and relatives, Song AV built a wall to separate the cornfield from the boss's house. He was still scared when people came to ask about the boss's lair. This man said that for many years, whether he was working in the fields or harvesting corn, he did not dare to go near this house because Tuan's followers were always armed and guarded.
Mr. M. (name withheld), who lives about 100m from Nguyen Thanh Tuan's house, said that since Tuan came to live in Ta De, there have been frequent appearances of young men with AK guns, roaming the village. The banyan tree in front of the boss's house is also a place where his followers often appear to guard.
The Boss's Secret Escape and Hideout
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| Fire escape in Thuan Chot's hiding place. Photo: Nguyen Hoan |
About 500m from Tuan’s house, Thuan “chot”’s tin-roofed house is in the middle of a corn hill, close to the old forest. Although this house has not been destroyed or blocked off, no one in the village dares to come and see it. Thuan “chot”’s house is more than 100m wide.2, there are 3 rooms, only the surveillance camera, the drug-like object and the safe were broken into.
Behind Thuan “the blind”’s bedroom is a secret basement located more than 3m underground, separated by a 3cm thick bulletproof steel door. The entrance to the basement is about 1m wide, with a built-in closet and a sturdy iron door. This basement has a bedroom, a skylight, a bathroom and an emergency exit just wide enough for one person to crawl through.
This special escape route has many exits, is sealed and solidly concreted. A grocery store owner in Ta De village said that Thuan lives with his wife, daughter and some juniors. Occasionally, he comes down to the village to participate in some local activities, but no one dares to ask or approach him.
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| The drug den where drug lord Nguyen Thanh Tuan resided was flattened. |
Fear of boss's minions attacking
Mr. Tenh A Chia - Chairman of Long Luong Commune People's Committee said that Tuan's house was bought by this tycoon from Mr. Song A Cua (60 years old, residing locally). The house Thuan lived in was rented from Mr. Song A Ho (40 years old, a local resident). After that, Thuan expanded it, built a shelter and secretly designed an escape route. Here, Thuan sometimes brought his wife and children from Moc Chau to visit. The local government is asking for the opinion of the owner of the house Thuan rented to demolish it.
The Chairman of Long Luong Commune also added that for the past 2 years, the people of Ta De village have been living in fear. Since 2015, there have been frequent gunshots at Tuan's hideout, causing the villagers to not dare to go out at night.
Tuan rarely appeared, but instead sent his men around the village carrying guns, threatening the villagers. Typically, in mid-2015, Mr. Song A Thao - Chief of the Commune Police entered the village on patrol and was shot by Tuan's men, causing the entire working group to drive away. A year later, a working group of the district police and the commune police passed through Ta De village to go to Hoa Binh and was also chased and shot by the two bosses' followers all the way to National Highway 6.
“Although Tuan and Thuan have been eliminated, there are still 6-7 local people in Ta De village who are wanted for the crime of illegal drug trafficking. This group of people has also been the henchmen of the two bosses in the drug trafficking ring for many years. The elimination of the boss has affected the lives of this group of people, so some officials when sent to grasp the situation are still afraid of being attacked and made difficult by them,” said Mr. Tenh A Chia - Chairman of the People's Committee of Long Luong commune (Van Ho, Son La).
According to Mr. M, there was a person who went to buy agricultural products and stopped under the banyan tree to rest. Tuan's men chased after him and threatened to shoot him. Only when this person called the agricultural garden to ask for permission did they let him go. Therefore, every time they went to the fields or passed by this house, no one in the village dared to stop or look inside. The boss Nguyen Thanh Tuan himself had never appeared, but was only heard to be a tall, white-skinned man.