Customs on the front line of drug prevention and combat – Part 5: Two cases cracked and a huge volume of drugs hidden in speaker boxes and cars seized

	Customs on the front of drug prevention and combat –Part 4: Seizing nearly 500 kg of "high-class" drugs, worth VND 500 billion
	Customs on the front Line of drug prevention and combat: Part 3: The investigation case name E318 - Dismissing the act of transporting drugs from Euro
	Director of the Anti-smuggling and Investigation Department talks about drug prevention and combat of Customs

Competent forces took the testimony of Nguyen Van Anh (sitting at the middle)

Extraordinarily rich from the trading of speaker boxes

In early 2019, Ha Tinh Police discovered a transnational drug line from the Golden Triangle, the drugs were divided and hidden in speaker boxes wrapped by cartons and transported by truck driver to Cau Treo international border gate to move inland.

Ha Tinh Police coordinated with Ha Tinh Customs and other forces to plan to "knock down" this line.

In order to find the important links in the chain, Ha Tinh Customs and Ha Tinh Police have "launched" the force to review and monitor suspicious individuals living in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces. After monitoring, the forces identified that when drugs crossed the Vietnamese border, they were gathered in Ha Tinh, then transported to Nghe An, Thanh Hoa or Ho Chi Minh City and then transported to a third country. In each area, there were people in charge of transportation and distribution.

One of the subjects that the forces monitored was Vo Van Giap, born in 1974, residing in Huong Son district, Ha Tinh. Giap conducted normal business in the locality but recently he has become extraordinarily rich. To unmask and arrest Giap, the investigation force collaborated with the Lao Police and police of the Golden Triangle area to penetrate into popular entertainment centres to collect evidence.

On April 15, being informed that Giap was about to transport hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine from the border area of ​​Huong Son district (Ha Tinh) to Vinh City (Nghe An) and then distribute to other areas, Ha Tinh Police presided over and coordinated with Ha Tinh Customs, Nghe An Police and C04 - Ministry of Public Security to organize his arrest.

As expected, at noon of the same day, Giap hired a man driving a truck to carry drugs on national road 8A from Cau Treo international border gate inland. Many working groups were involved to secretly monitor on the national roads 8A and 1A. Scouts secretly followed the transport to Vinh city.

At about 3.pm , the truck arrived at Pham Van Thi's house (66 years old), at No. 7, Lane 161, Phung Chi Kien Street, Ha Huy Tap ward, Vinh City, Nghe An. When Vo Manh Linh, born in 1990, residing at House No. 02, lane 30, Quang Trung Street, Nam Dan Town, Nghe An Province and 4 other suspects were preparing to load drugs on the truck for onward transportation, the forces decided to crack the case.

More than 150 policemen were mobilized to block all exits and surround the house. At the site, the forces seized 30 cartons containing speaker boxes, inside the speaker boxes was 580 kg of methamphetamine and 40 bricks of heroin. Inspecting a carton, the forces detected 2 speaker boxes containing dozens of yellow packs of drugs.

The Board in charge of the case quickly assigned a team to approach Giap's house in Tay Son town to arrest him. Through a search of Giap's house, the forces seized 60 bricks of heroin, 60 kg of methamphetamine, 9 savings books worth over 7.5 billion VND; 3 loan agreements contract with a value of VND 14 billion VND and many certificates of land use rights and related documents.

The forces counted material evidences of 640 kg of methamphetamine. Photo: Ha Tinh Police

Hiding 120 bricks of heroin around car’s wheels

In addition to the above case, another typical case cracked by the Customs force in collaboration with other forces was the seizure of 120 bricks of heroin hidden in a car at Cau Treo international border gate.

The case was handled by the Drug Enforcement Team, Cau Treo International Customs Branch (Ha Tinh Customs); the Northern Anti-Smuggling and drug enforcement Team 5, the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department (General Department of Customs) in coordination with C04 (Ministry of Public Security), Border Guard, Coast Guard at the end of January 2019.

On the evening of January 23, when the customs officers were rushing to complete the last duties of a day, they received information on a black TOYOTA car travelling from Laos to Cau Treo border gate to enter Vietnam carrying a large amount of heroin. The competent forces at the border gate immediately followed and monitored it. When the car arrived at the immigration area, the forces asked the driver to drive the car to the inspection area.

Following a subsequent search of the vehicle they discovered a huge amount of drugs including 120 bricks of heroin.

Arrest 2 persons transporting 600,000 tablets of synthetic narcotics and 36 bars of heroin VCN – According to Ha Tinh Border Defense force, the force of Anti-drug and criminal Department (Vietnam ...

The offender, Nguyen Van Anh, 28 years old, residing in Hamlet 12, Nghi Truong commune, Nghi Loc district, Nghe An province confessed that he was hired by Nguyen Quoc Trung, 38 years old, residing in Son Kim district, to transport drugs from Vientiane, Laos. In addition to arresting the driver, seizing the drugs and means of transport, the forces promptly arrested 3 other offenders: Nguyen Quoc Trung and Nguyen Duy Que (31 years old), residing in Ben Thuy ward, Le Thanh Tap (28 years old), residing in Nghi Truong commune, Nghi Loc district (Nghe An).

This is just one of dozens of cases that the Customs force has cracked at the Vietnam - Laos border area in Ha Tinh since the beginning of 2019 with the effective coordination of the customs force with other relevant forces.