BÀ RỊA-VŨNG TÀU — The Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs here has suspended two officials of a training centre, until their role in the mass escape of 447 drug addicts was determined.

The two officials of the Labour Education and Vocational Training Centre, who were suspended for 15 days yesterday, are Trần Thiện Chí, director of the centre, and Nguyễn Văn Châu, the centre’s deputy director.

On the same day, the department appointed Phạm Minh An, formerly a director of a nursing home, to the post of deputy director of the centre.

Five other employees, mainly security guards, of the centre have also been suspended temporarily from work.

The centre is located in Tân Thành District’s Tóc Tiên Commune.

The incident occurred in the evening on April 13 when over 400 trainees at the centre, who are drug addicts, attacked security guards and indulged in rioting.

They broke open the gates and climbed the walls to escape.

Hundreds of police personnel, belonging to different forces, were deployed on the streets to arrest the addicts.

The drug addicts even broke into homes near the centre to steal clothes, stole the motorbikes of passers-by and hijacked cars so they could flee faster, according to local residents.

As of Thursday, 250 of the 447 drug addicts had been sent back to the centre.

Competent agencies in the province were continuing the hunt for the remaining trainees who were still on the loose and called on families of the drug addicts to cooperate. — VNS