THANH HOA: Border guards in the central province of Thanh Hoa Province have cooperated with police in Laos to arrest a Lao national for trying to smuggle 1.3 kilograms of heroin across the border.
The 40-year-old suspect was nabbed Saturday afternoon. He admitted that he was on his way to Thanh Hoa, where he planned to sell the drugs.
Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine face the death penalty.
The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death. Yet drug trafficking activities across the Laos border remain rampant.
A joint operation between Vietnamese border guards and Laos police on Saturday bust another smuggling case involving 12,000 pills of drugs. Two Lao men were arrested three days before that for trafficking 35 kilograms of opium into Vietnam.
