GIA LAI — The biggest cigarettes trafficking ring so far in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai had been destroyed, provincial police said on Wednesday.

More than 76,000 packets of cigarettes were seized.

Police said that at about 1pm on Tuesday, they caught Trương Văn Toản, 36 and Lê Thế Hoàng, 26, in the act of transporting cigarettes to store at a location in the Trà Đa Industrial Zone in Pleiku City.

There were reportedly about 21,000 packets of illegally imported cigarettes in their truck.

Police also seized more than 20,000 other packets from a location in the industrial zone.

Toản and Hoàng reportedly admitted to police that they had transported the cigarettes from Đức Cơ District to the industrial zone and planned to sell them.

Also on Tuesday afternoon, police raided other storage locations used by the ring and caught four other members, aged between 52 and 29. More packets of cigarettes were seized from the four people. — VNS