A police officer reads out the arrest warrant for Dương Văn Lương, who is in handcuffs. — Photo daidoanket.vn

HÀ NỘI — A former deputy director of Việt Nam’s top psychiatric-forensics institute has been arrested for allegedly taking bribes to falsify mental-health evaluations that allowed a drug-trafficking suspect to avoid jail and continue running a narcotics ring.

Investigators said Dương Văn Lương, 63, former Deputy Director of the Central Institute of Forensic Psychiatry, is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for certifying that a detainee, Bùi Thị Thanh Thuỷ, had lost the capacity to understand or control her actions.

That ruling enabled Thuỷ to be placed under compulsory medical treatment instead of pre-trial detention – a loophole police say she exploited to freely leave the institute and direct the movement of 60kg of illegal drugs.

Thuỷ later confessed to investigators she had never suffered from a mental disorder and had colluded with members of the institute’s appraisal council, including Lương, to secure the false diagnosis.

Investigators say the council collectively took about VNĐ300 million (US$11,400) in bribes to produce the fabricated evaluation.

Several staff members at the institute are under scrutiny for allegedly creating conditions that allowed her to come and go while under 'mandatory treatment.'

The case surfaced after Hà Nội police, in July 2025, broke up a drug network that Thuỷ allegedly continued to run from inside the psychiatric facility. Officers arrested 10 suspects and seized a large haul of narcotics.

Despite being under compulsory treatment, Thuỷ is accused of directing Phùng Nguyệt Anh, 51, and several other associates to buy and sell drugs across the city.

The investigation into Lương and other appraisal council members is ongoing. — VNS