Master makes double-bottom gas tank to hide heroin

Ly Van Thanh was the last "link" in the drug ring to be arrested by the police, when he was driving a motorbike with a double-bottom gas tank hiding heroin, transporting it from Son La to Hanoi.

Ly Van Thanh (34 years old, from Son La) has a master's degree and has been invited to teach at many local schools. Police discovered that he opened a used motorbike shop in Moc Chau farm town and turned it into a workshop to manufacture double-bottomed gas tanks to hide drugs for transport from Son La to Hanoi.

The motorcycle gas tank was modified to hold 5 heroin cakes and 1 liter of fuel.

Wiring diagram

In June 2016, Team 2 of the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department (PC47, Hanoi Police) discovered an inter-provincial drug ring from Son La to Hanoi, specializing in transporting large quantities of heroin. They consisted of 3 people, all from Son La.

The leader is Nguyen Duy Ngoc (32 years old, from Van Ho commune, Van Ho district). Ngoc is unemployed, has been addicted to drugs for many years and is HIV positive. Living in an area that is a drug hotspot in Son La province, the police discovered that Ngoc often went to Pa Cop village to get drugs and then transported them downstream to sell.

6 heroin cakes hidden in a box of hawthorn berries. Photo: Provided by the police.

The second person involved in transporting the drugs to Hanoi was Le Thi Tam (45 years old, from Moc Chau district). Tam did not directly transport the drugs like Ngoc but hired her sister-in-law, Nguyen Thi Hang (41 years old, from Dong Nai), to carry them for her.

The third “agent” identified by the investigation team is Ly Van Thanh (34 years old, living in Chieng Yen commune). Thanh has a master’s degree and has been invited to teach at many local schools.

Police discovered that he opened a used motorbike shop in Moc Chau farm town and secretly turned it into a workshop, manufacturing double-bottomed gas tanks to hide drugs during the transportation from Son La to Hanoi. The gas tank of the motorbike was then made to hold 5 heroin cakes, containing 1 liter of fuel.

In Hanoi, the task force established two sources who often sold goods to Ngoc, Tam and Thanh. They were Tran Quoc Hung (52 years old, in Nhan Chinh ward, Thanh Xuan district) and To Van Hung (47 years old, in Van Phuc ward, Ha Dong district).

Hung has 5 previous convictions for drug crimes and is a heavy drug addict. He is divorced and unemployed, but lives a comfortable life, owning 3 cars and a large house. According to the investigation documents, Hung takes turns using these cars to transport drugs.

The second contact in Hanoi is To Van Hung. According to the investigation documents, Hung often rented a 16-seat car with his friends to go to Son La. When he went, he always took his Dream motorbike along for convenient "traveling". In fact, this was a car that Thanh had modified the gas tank to hide drugs in to fool the authorities when being checked.

Hidden drugs in a barrel of hawthorn berries

At the time of solving the case, the Hanoi Police chose Nguyen Thi Hang as the first “link” to break. According to the task assigned by Le Thi Tam, when the goods were available, Hang would bring them to Hanoi by bus and then deliver them to Tran Quoc Hung.

On August 24, 2016, upon receiving information that Tam was preparing to ship the goods to Hanoi, the task force organized a reconnaissance force. At 8:30 a.m. the same day, Hang brought a box of hawthorn apples to send by bus to Hanoi, but she did not get on the bus but took another trip.

That afternoon, when arriving at My Dinh bus station, Hang hired a taxi to go to Mo Lao ward, the place where the bus from Son La to Hanoi delivered the goods. As soon as she received the box of hawthorn berries, she was arrested by the police, who confiscated 6 heroin bricks.

After Tam and Hang were arrested, the remaining members of the ring temporarily stopped their activities to listen and change their methods of communication and drug delivery. However, all their activities were still under the control of the reconnaissance force.

Losing the source of supply from Le Thi Tam, after 3 months of silence, in early December 2016, Tran Quoc Hung tried to connect with Nguyen Duy Ngoc, establishing a new business branch. The task force decided to organize the second phase of the investigation.

On the morning of December 7, when they discovered Ngoc driving a car to deliver goods to Hanoi for Tran Quoc Hung, detectives from Team 2 of PC47 arranged forces to intercept him. When the two drove to the meeting point in Xuan Mai town (Chuong My district) to deliver the goods, they were ambushed and arrested, confiscating 10 heroin bricks.

During the struggle, Ngoc confessed that he bought heroin for 155 million VND/cake and then sold it to Tran Quoc Hung for 170-175 million VND. Hung continued to sell it for 185-190 million VND/cake to his subordinate agents.

The third branch that was destroyed by the police was To Van Hung and Ly Van Thanh. According to the investigation documents, in September 2016, Hung rented a car to drive himself to Son La to "pick up goods". Discovering that the Hoa Binh police were blocking Highway 6, he drove the car into a cliff, pretended to have an accident, and then called a tow truck to move the car to avoid being checked.

After the above "accident", To Van Hung changed the method of transportation, not renting a self-driving car to transport goods as before but switching to a contract with a 16-seat tourist car.

Every time he went to Son La, Hung would bring 5-7 groups along to act like a tourist group. When he arrived in Son La, he waited for the young people to gather for a drink and then Hung decided to separate from the group to go meet Ly Van Thanh to get the goods.

On the morning of December 8, 2016, discovering To Van Hung and a group of young men getting on a tourist bus to Moc Chau, Team 2 of PC47 carried out the third phase of the investigation plan.

That midnight, when the car carrying Hung arrived at Xuan Mai town, the police checked and caught him red-handed with 10 heroin bricks hidden in the car cushions, and 2 wheels in the gas tank of the Dream with the wheels removed. Searching Hung's place, the police confiscated a K59 gun and 5 bullets.

In early January 2017, Ly Van Thanh - the last link in the drug ring - was arrested while driving a motorbike with a double-bottom gas tank, hiding 2 heroin cakes transported from Son La to Hanoi.

After nearly 8 months of investigation, the Son La - Hanoi inter-provincial drug ring was dismantled with 6 people, 28 heroin cakes, K59 guns and hundreds of millions of dong seized... Hanoi police are completing the investigation conclusion of the case and proposing to prosecute the above group before the law.

According to Zing