Hồ Chí Minh City police arrest and process more than 140 people in connection with drugs. Photo courtesy of the HCM City Public Security Department

HCM CITY — A drug trafficking network operating across multiple provinces in southern Việt Nam and the Central Highlands has been dismantled after HCM City police arrested 140 suspects and seized more than nine kilograms of synthetic narcotics.

In the second quarter of 2026, through surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations, the Drug Crime Investigation Police Division (PC04) of HCM City Police identified a prominent suspect engaged in drug use and small-scale illegal drug trading across ward areas in Bến Cát, Thới Hòa, Bình Dương, Thủ Dầu Một, Phú Lợi, Thuận Giao and An Phú.

The suspect was identified as Đặng Phan Thanh Tùng. Investigators traced multiple further links and persons of interest from Tùng, and on that basis HCM City Police established special case file, coded VA0126Đ, with a view to dismantling the entire criminal network.

On April 15, 2026, Team Three of PC04 apprehended Tùng while he was in the act of illegally transporting narcotics for distribution.

Continuing the investigation, police deployed multiple task teams simultaneously to pursue suspects identified as distribution nodes, retail dealers and drug users. Starting from Tùng as the initial lead, PC04 arrested three upstream suspects who had been supplying drugs to him and identified and took action against 12 downstream branches that had been buying drugs from him to organise illegal drug use and sell to individual addicts.

The investigation revealed that the suspects operated in a mobile, complex and inter-provincial manner across the southern region and the Central Highlands. Acting on intelligence about a large-scale trafficking transaction, PC04 intercepted a suspect who was transporting more than five kilograms of narcotics from the Central Highlands into HCM City for distribution.

In total, PC04 arrested and processed 140 suspects – of whom 105 were prosecuted for offences including the illegal buying, selling, transporting, storing and organising of narcotics use, while 35 were sent for compulsory drug rehabilitation.

Seized items included more than nine kilograms of various synthetic drugs, 11 precision scales, 40 sets of drug-use paraphernalia, two motor vehicles, numerous motorbikes, more than 70 mobile phones and a range of documents and material evidence.

A number of suspects who served as lookouts, accomplices or concealers of criminal activity were also identified and dealt with in accordance with the law. — VNS