Trial opened for major drug trafficking, production ring
The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City opened on May 7 the first-instance trial on a drug trafficking and production ring, the biggest of its kind in Vietnam when being uncovered in 2017.
Ringleader Van Kinh Duong (L) at the trial in HCM City on May 7 (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – The People’s Court of Ho Chi MinhCity opened on May 7 the first-instance trial on a drug trafficking andproduction ring, the biggest of its kind in Vietnam when being uncovered in2017.
Ringleader Van Kinh Duong, born in 1980, wasprosecuted for illegally producing and trafficking drugs, swindling toappropriate assets, escaping from prison, and counterfeiting seals anddocuments of agencies and organisations.
His fiancee Vu Hoang Anh Ngoc, his cousin NguyenDuc Ky Nam and seven other accomplices were also brought to trial.
According to the indictment, Duong was sentencedto five years in prison for robbery by the court of Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem districtin 2008. While serving the penalty, Duong was found to store drugs on October11 the same year, so he was given another seven-year prison sentence.
While being imprisoned in Thanh Hoa province, heand four inmates managed to escape.
In HCM City, under the name of Tran Ngoc Hieu,Duong rented an apartment in a high-end residential area. In June 2016, he gotacquainted with a person named Tom at a bar. After that, they discussed andagreed to produce methamphetamine to supply for smugglers.
Later, Duong ordered his men to rent a villa andbuy chemicals to produce crystal meth. The gang changed their productionlocation constantly to avoid being uncovered, from HCM City to Nha Trang city(Khanh Hoa province) and then Dong Nai province.
In 2017, police of HCM City arrested the wholegang following a tip-off.
Investigation results showed that Duong and hisaccomplices extracted 124kg of drugs. About 84kg of the drugs was given to Tomand the rest was used to produce nearly 500,000 ecstasy tablets which weighed120kg in total and were concealed in coffee bags.
Before they were arrested, the ring had sold18kg of the drugs in Hai Phong city. The remaining was hidden at their livingplaces and given to accomplices to deliver to buyers.
Police in the northern mountainous province of Son La arrested a suspect illegally transporting nearly 6.5 kilogrammes of heroin in Long Luong commune, Van Ho district, on April 17.
The police of Ho Chi Minh City on April 19 brought to light a ring transporting over 1.1 tonnes of meth and started legal proceedings against two suspects, including two Taiwanese and a Vietnamese for their involvement.
The cooperation between the Son La province border guard force, the Vietnam Border Guard High Command’s anti-drug department and competent agencies of the Lao Houaphan and Luang Prabang provinces has successfully put an end to several major drugs cases in contribution to curbing the crime along the Vietnam – Laos borderline.
Police busted many drug trafficking rings in the first quarter of 2019, seizing over 6 tonnes of drugs – higher than the amount seized last year and tripling that in 2017.
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Ringleader Van Kinh Duong (L) at the trial in HCM City on May 7 (Photo: VNA) 
