Thao In and Thao Senh (third and forth left) were caught by the Điện Biên Province Border Guards and the Laos’ Phongsaly District Security Headquarters for trafficking heroin. — VNA/VNS Photo |
ĐIỆN BIÊN — The Điện Biên Province Border Guards, in co-ordination with the Laos’ Phongsaly Province’s Security Headquarter, during the early hours of Tuesday, destroyed a complex heroin trafficking ring.
Thanks to an information exchange with the Phongsaly Province’s Security Headquarter and reports from local residents, the border guards are in the know about the work of several heroin traffickers in Muong Khoa District in Phongsaly Province.
The main heroin traffickers were Thao In, 55, from Muong Khoa District, and Thao Tua, 34, from Bun Tay District. They are considered the main men responsible for the heroin transporting ring from Udom Xay, Luang Namtha and Bokeo provinces to Phongsaly Province. They gave instructions to a number of accomplices in all the northern provinces of Laos.
After collecting enough evidence, last Tuesday, the Điện Biên Province Border Guards decided to set up a trap together with the Phongsaly Province’s Security Headquarter to catch the culprits in the act.
For one month, the police followed all the activities of the two main traffickers, and discovered that Thao was in direct, regular contact with Thao Senh, 28, from Udom Xay Province’s Muong Na District. The police said that Senh was the heroin supplier for In and decided to catch the two.
The police caught In and Senh, red-handed, exchanging money and heroin at a hotel in Muong Khoa District. Objects of evidence included 90,000 tablets of ecstasy and 3 million Lao kip (US$360).
In and Senh admitted to the police that they had worked along with several people from Việt Nam to transport the heroin to be sold in Việt Nam. — VNS