At around 4:40 p.m. officers and border guards in Long Luong Commune, Van Ho District, on an anti-drug operation, spotted Giang A Cau, 38, driving a motorbike and acting suspiciously.

As they approached him, he sped up and escaped into a forest along National Highway 6.

After more than an hour’s search they captured him and seized around 6.5 kg (14 pounds) of heroin and nearly 200 synthetic drug pills.

Long Luong, which is on the Laos border four hours west of Hanoi, is a hideout for more than 60 criminals, 30 wanted for drug-related crimes.

Last June it came into the national limelight when two drug lords, Nguyen Thanh Tuan, 34, and Nguyen Van Thuan, 35, were shot dead in a four-day shootout involving more than 300 officers.

Vietnam is a key trafficking hub for narcotics from the Golden Triangle, an intersection of China, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar and the world's second largest drug producing area behind the Golden Crescent in South Asia.

Drug trafficking and consumption have persisted and worsened in Vietnam though it has some of the world’s toughest laws.

Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin face the death penalty.