Drug lord Vũ Hoàng Oanh. — Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Public Security.

HÀ NỘI — A 67-year-old woman is to face trial accused of being a kingpin in an international drugs smuggling gang.

Vũ Hoàng Oanh and 34 accomplices are charged with smuggling and distributing illegal drugs from Cambodia into Việt Nam, targeting key cities including HCM City, Hải Phòng, Nam Định, Hà Nội, and surrounding areas.

They are alleged to have handled more than 626kg of heroin concealed in used car gear boxes.

Oanh, 67, nicknamed ‘Hà’, from Hải Phòng City, faces charges of illegal trading of drugs under Clause 4, Article 251 of the 2015 Penal Code. 

Twenty-seven others face similar charges, while six are being prosecuted for illegal transportation of drugs.

Another defendant is charged with illegal possession of drugs. 

The Supreme People’s Procuracy has called for all 35 individuals to stand trial at the HCM City People’s Court.

The indictment details how Oanh orchestrated and managed a transnational drug smuggling operation from 2019 to 2022. 

The ring transported drugs from Cambodia into Việt Nam, distributing the drugs across key cities and provinces in the north and south of the country.

Initially, Oanh hired Nguyễn Văn Nam to transport heroin from Phnom Penh to HCM City for distribution. 

Later, she employed Nguyễn Anh Bảo Quốc to receive drug shipments concealed in used car gearboxes, smuggled into the city from Cambodia. 

These shipments were dismantled to extract the drugs, which were then stored and delivered to buyers in HCM City and nearby regions. 

In northern region, Oanh instructed Nam to collect drugs hidden in gearboxes from Hồ Chí Minh City and transport them to Hải Phòng, where the narcotics were distributed to customers in Hải Phòng, Nam Định, Hà Nội, and other northern provinces.

In total, the ring smuggled 129 old car gearboxes across the border. Each gearbox reportedly contained about 50kg of drugs.

Authorities describe the case as an especially serious, transnational drug trafficking operation, involving both Vietnamese nationals living abroad and domestic collaborators. The indictment outlines how the group coordinated their activities using the Signal messaging app, adopting aliases to evade detection. 

To further conceal their operations, they communicated via Signal using US and Cambodian phone numbers and conducted payments, totalling VNĐ1.4 trillion VNĐ (US$56.4 million), through an intermediary account under the name Hoang Cong Tu.

In addition to the 35 defendants facing prosecution by the Supreme People’s Procuracy, two others, Trần Vĩnh Hạ and Vũ Thị Vòng, remain at large and are wanted by the Ministry of Public Security.

Oanh, identified as the ringleader, has a history of criminal convictions. 

In 2006, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking, but was granted amnesty in 2009. 

In 2011, she was handed a four-year sentence for organising gambling, and in 2015, the People’s Court in Đà Lạt City, Lâm Đồng Province, sentenced her to 18 months in prison for gambling. — VNS