Crimes related to drug dealing and trafficking had been on the rise in HCM City in recent years, said Dinh Thanh Nhan, deputy head of the city police.

Seized ketamine and ecstasy at a police station in HCM City (Photo: VNA) 

He made the statement at a meeting held in the city on October 4 to review drug prevention and control work.

Since 2010, the city has detected more than 15,500 drug-related cases and arrested 31,000 people.

In the first nine months of this year, police dealt with more than 1,278 drug cases and detained 3,000 people, an increase of 147 cases and 528 suspects in comparison with last year.

Around 331kg of heroin, nearly 1.3 tonnes of synthetic drugs of various types, 16kg of marijuana and 1.4kg of cocaine was seized during that time.
Nhan said the quantity of seized synthetic drugs had increased 105.8 percent per year on average in the past five years.

“Drugs have become a threat to the development of the country, harming people’s health and leading to many types of dangerous crimes,” Nguyen Thien Nhan, secretary of HCM City’s Party Central Committee, was quoted by Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper as saying.

Prevention and detoxification measures in HCM City had not been effective.

Nhan said this was due to a number of reasons including a hike in global drug crime and a lack of synchronisation between legal system and drug prevention work.

He said local authorities had not paid adequate attention to the issue, and a lack of resolve to do something about it was also a problem.

Effective measures should be adopted to prevent drug trafficking in Vietnam and stop it from becoming a drug transit hub, Nhan said.

It was also necessary to improve detoxification and post-detoxification management.

 “It's a must for HCM City to implement a project on drug prevention and control which is relevant to the latest situation,” Nhan said.