Recently, transnational drug-related crime in the northwest border area has increased.

The two hotspots of drug-related crime still are Son La and Dien Bien provinces. The transportation of drug across Son La province with small quantity while the operation is increasing in Dien Bien with cases of transporting dozens of heroin packages, an official of Northern Anti-Smuggling and Drug Enforcement Team (Team 5) under the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department said.

According to the department’s Director Nguyen Hung Anh, the department’s special task force and Dien Bien Customs Department have worked with local agencies to implement action plan.

The local customs department tackled six cases and rings of drug trafficking and transportation with a huge amount across localities and countries.

From 16-22 June, forces arrested eight suspects and seized 95 heroin packages and other goods.

On June 19, Dien Bien Customs Department worked with Dien Bien provincial Police, Nam Bo District Police and Nam Bo Border Guard to arrest three drug traffickers. The authorities also arrested one suspect and seized 90 plastic bags containing 18,000 pills of synthetic drugs.

On June 22, the forces arrested a suspect transporting drugs and seized 78 packages of heroin, weighing 27.3 kg

Authorities have focused on fighting drug-related crime in the northwest route. Notably, drug trafficking rings have transported from Laos across some northwestern and north-central border provinces to some northern border provinces to transport to China for consumption. They regularly change the form of transportation to outsmart the arrest by forces, Major General Nguyen Van Vien, Director of the Drug-related Crime Investigation Police Department (C04) said.

Recently, local authorities have seized many transnational drug trafficking rings in Lao Cai.

The local police detected some inter-provincial and transnational drug rings in July. Smugglers bought dugs in Laos then transported from Son La, Dien Bien, Thanh Hoa to Lao Cai for consumption or ship them to a third country.

In July 16, the working team of Lao Cai Province arrested two suspects, namely Sung Phung, 42, and Vang Trung Khoa, 31, for illegally transporting drugs, and seized 9kg of synthetic drugs.

The team also arrested two other suspects in this ring, Giàng A Chô and Sung Seo Vanh, and seized VND1.29 million at the bus station in the centre of Lao Cai city to take the bus to Thanh Hoa.

Forces also arrested Mua Thi Gia, 33 for illegally transporting drugs and seized 24,000 tablets of synthetic drugs and 6.5 kg of opium. Cha said she was hired by a man to transport drugs from Son La to Lao Cai.

The area is a hotspot for drugs for many years due to their location near the Golden Triangle area - one of the largest centres for drug production in the world. In addition, Vietnam's border in this area adjacent to China and Laos, making it an "ideal" area for operation of transnational drug crime rings, Director of the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department Nguyen Hung Anh said.

The Customs force and other agencies are taking measures to arrest and handle violators.