HANOI: Vietnam police busted a massive meth ring in a Ho Chi Minh City mansion allegedly run by a Chinese national who used a textile company as a cover for the operation, police and state media reported on Thursday (March 21).
Police on Wednesday stormed the luxury property in Vietnam’s largest city, guarded with private security and outfitted with cameras, during an hours-long raid which unearthed methamphetamine believed to have been smuggled in from Laos.
Around 300kg of methamphetamine was seized, and images in the press later displayed dozens of bricks of drugs.
“Eleven people were arrested, including eight Chinese and three Vietnamese,” a police official from Binh Tan district, where the bust took place, told AFP on Thursday, requesting anonymity.
The primary suspect was a 56-year-old Chinese national, whose Vietnamese girlfriend was reportedly registered as the owner of a textile export business. The Chinese suspect allegedly ran the drugs operation under the guise of the textile export business.
The confiscated drugs were likely transported from Laos, travelling through Kon Tum province for “consumption in Ho Chi Minh City”, the official Vietnam News Agency reported.
The bust was part of a larger investigation across central Vietnam involving several provinces, and further investigations are ongoing.
