Ho Chi Minh City and southern provinces becoming hot spots of drug crimes

Police warned Ho Chi Minh City and southern provinces are becoming hot spots of drug crimes.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends the conference

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends the conference

This morning, the Ministry of Public Security in Hanoi held a nationwide conference on drug prevention and control presided by Minister of Public Security General To Lam. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended and delivered a speech at the conference.

As many police departments have established specialized units to attack drug trafficking rings in the Northwest route, drug criminals increased drug dealing on the Vietnam - Cambodia border; subsequently, criminals decided to move to other regions. Ho Chi Minh City and southern provinces are becoming hot spots of drug crimes.

According to the Ministry of Public Security’s Department of Drug Investigation Police Department (C04), through the fight against drug crimes lately, it has been shown that criminals are increasing drug smuggling into Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam.

Drugs mainly from abroad are illegally traded and transported in increasing quantities to Vietnam for consumption or continued to be transported to a third country by road, sea and aviation, or post office. Recently, police announced the presence of more and more new forms of drugs.

Drugs can be in the form of beverage products, food and next-generation tobacco. The use of synthetic drugs among adolescents has increased rapidly, especially the sale and use of funky balls, along with drugs impregnated in food, drinks and e-cigarettes, causing social disorder, anxiety, and frustration among people.

Meanwhile, buying, selling, possessing and enticing others to use illegal drugs continue to be very complicated. Illegal drug users and drug addicts in society who are not monitored and managed, has caused many criminal cases; notably, drug addicts suffering from mental disorders killed others or intentionally injured others, or cause traffic accidents.

Over the past time, police, border guard, coast guard, and customs officers have effectively coordinated to crack down on drug trafficking rings, especially large-scale, inter-provincial and trans-border ones.

Minister of Public Security General To Lam (first , L) chairs the conference
Minister of Public Security General To Lam (first , L) chairs the conference

In 2022, specialized forces to fight drug crimes of the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Finance coordinated to unearth 27,000 drug trafficking cases and arrested more than 41,300 criminals seizing 809kg of heroin, 6.1 tons of synthetic drugs, 867kg of marijuana and over 1 ton of other drugs.

According to C04 leaders, compulsory detoxification work faces many difficulties. Currently, 97 public detoxification establishments nationwide can only meet about 60 percent of the detoxification needs.

The system of medical facilities that are qualified to determine addiction status has not met the requirements. Currently, there are 128 provincial-level medical facilities, 683 district-level medical facilities, and 2,915 commune-level medical facilities that are eligible to determine addiction status. The number of establishments above only met 27.5 percent of the requirement.

It is forecasted that in the coming time, drug crime activities nationwide will be affected by drug crime in the region and the world.

Regarding drug supply, C04 said that cross-border drug trafficking and trafficking rings will increase their drug dealing to sell out residual drug supply after the Covid-19 pandemic.

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