Vietnamese and Philippines police crack down on trans-national drug trafficking

Hundreds of kilos of methamphetamine have been seized in the Philippines thanks to information from crimefighters in Vietnam.
Laboratory technicians examine 276kg of crystal meth at Manila International Container Port on Friday night. (Photo: newsinfo.inquirer.net )
Laboratory technicians examine 276kg of crystal meth at Manila International Container Port on Friday night. (Photo: newsinfo.inquirer.net )

On Wednesday, 300kg of the drug, also known as ice or crystal meth, were recovered after a police raid in Ho Chi Minh City.

Now it has been reported that thanks to information received from Vietnam, a further 276kg of the drug were seized at the Manila International Container Port.

Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency director general Aaron Aquino said the drugs packaging was similar to those recovered in Vietnam on Wednesday.

The Philippines’ Inquirer reported on Sunday the narcotics were shipped to the port by a suspected Chinese syndicate.

Police say the drugs recovered in Wednesday’s raid in HCM City were stored at Hasan Trade and Service Limited Company in Binh Tan District to be exported to Taiwan.

The company is directed by a woman named Phan Thi My N. who is the girlfriend of a Chinese man suspected to be the head of a major trans-national drug trafficking ring.

The Hasan Company, which specilises in textile and import, export, was being used as a front for the illegal activities, police say.

The seized drugs were transported from Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam and then to another country.

Criminal proceedings against four people – Thao A Do from northern Dien Bien Province, Thao No Pao  and Ly A Vu, residing in Central Highlands Province of Dak Nong and Huang Zai Wen, Chinese national are about to start.

They were arrested on Wednesday following a series of raids at five suspicious storage locations in HCMC and two others in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong. 

The operations was carried out att about 1.35pm on Wednesday by the Ministry of Public Security, in coordination with the Border Guards and the General Department of Vietnam Customs. 

The police held in custody 11 people, including eight Chinese nationals, and seized 300kg of drugs.

According to the investigation agency, the drugs were illegally transported from Laos via Bo Y border gate to HCM City for sale. 

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