HANOI: Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc sent letters of merit to narcotics and customs Department, to cash awarded officials in southern Vietnam for busting two “tricky” heroin smuggling cases at Tan Son Nhat Airport.
Customs officials arrested T.K.H., a Vietnamese Australian who attempted to fly off to Melbourne with heroin hidden in her underwear and anus.
The officials decided to search the 37-year-old’s body after gathering suspicious information about her.
They found 379.7 grams of heroin, which has an estimated street value of more than VND1.1 billion (US$51,620).
The customs officers arrested a Singaporean national named Loke Dah Lee, 38, after finding 2.89 kg of heroin packed in little capsules and hidden inside peanut shells and candies in his luggage.
Lee was about to board a plane to Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City.
Phuc serves as the chairman of the steering committee on smuggling and other commercial fraud.
Nguyen Ngoc Tuc, head of the General Customs Department, has also honored the officials with cash rewards.
