HCM CITY — Hundreds of kilos of methamphetamine have been seized in the Philippines thanks to information from crimefighters in Việt Nam.

On Wednesday, 300kg of the drug, also known as ice or crystal meth, were recovered after a police raid in Ho Chi Minh City.

Now it has been reported that thanks to information received from Việt Nam, a further 276kg of the drug were seized at the Manila International Container Port.

Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency director general Aaron Aquino said the drugs packaging was similar to those recovered in Việt Nam on Wednesday.

The Philippines’ Inquirer reported on Sunday the narcotics were shipped to the port by a suspected Chinese syndicate.

Police say the drugs recovered in Wednesday’s raid in HCM City were stored at Hasan Trade and Service Limited Company in Bình Tân District to be exported to Taiwan.

The company is directed by a woman named Phan Thị Mỹ N. who is the girlfriend of a Chinese man suspected to be the head of a major trans-national drug trafficking ring.

The Hasan Company, which specilises in textile and import, export, was being used as a front for the illegal activities, police say.

The seized drugs were transported from Myanmar, Laos and Việt Nam and then to another country.

Criminal proceedings against four people – Thào A Dơ from northern Điện Biên Province, Thào Nở Páo  and Lý A Vừ, residing in Central Highlands Province of Đắk Nông and Huang Zai Wen, Chinese national are about to start.

They were arrested on Wednesday following a series of raids at five suspicious storage locations in HCM City and two others in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Nông. 

The operations was carried out att about 1.35pm on Wednesday by the Ministry of Public Security, in coordination with the Border Guards and the General Department of Việt Nam Customs. 

The police held in custody 11 people, including eight Chinese nationals, and seized 300kg of drugs.
According to the investigation agency, the drugs were illegally transported from Laos via Bo Y border gate to HCM City for sale.  — VNS