Everybody wants to be paid a fair wage for an honest day's work, but what happens when your employer isn't honest or honourable? Some workers in Việt Nam's capital found out recently.

A spokesperson of the Investigation Police Team for Drug-related Crimes under the Thanh Xuân District Police in Hà Nội on Monday told the Thanh Niên (Young People) newspaper that they had temporarily detained Lê Văn Anh, 30 and Đặng Quang Huy, 27.

Anh is a security guard whereas Huy is a supervisor of a construction site in Hạ Đình Ward.

Last Friday, police raided to the construction site after a tip-off from local residents. They caught nearly 20 workers in the act of using heroin.

The workers admitted to police that they were from poor remote areas and came to Hà Nội to work as builders. However, instead of being paid with money, they were paid with heroin to use together.

Police believe Huy supplied the heroin and Anh delivered it to the workers.

The police said 12 of the workers have been encouraged to go to detoxification centres and the remaining, who have not become addicts yet, would receive administrative fines.

They say don't bite the hand that feeds you, but when that hand is trying to feed you heroin, perhaps biting is the correct response. — VNS