3 drug smugglers with heroin cakes arrested

Police in Vietnam’s northern Dien Bien province have cracked down a major drug trafficking case, arresting three suspects and seizing 54 heroin cakes.

Vietnam News Agency reported on Thursday that the authorities caught a man trading in the drug weighing nearly 19 kg in Dien Bien’s Muong Cha District on Tuesday night.

From his confession, the police arrested two other members of the ring, said the report.

A month ago, the authorities discovered the trans-provincial and transnational drug trafficking ring with a large amount of heroin traded from Laos to Dien Bien through northern Lai Chau and Lao Cai provinces before being sold to a third country.

The case is under further investigation.

As stipulated in Vietnamese laws, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death.

Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty.