Three suspected drug traffickers from Bắc Kạn Province were arrested in Nghệ An for trafficking a large amount of narcotics. — Photo courtesy from Nghệ An newspaper

NGHỆ AN — Police in Kỳ Sơn District in the central province of Nghệ An announced on Saturday they have arrested three men for allegedly trafficking 20 bricks of heroin, 60kg of methamphetamine and 4kg of ketamine.

The suspects – 30-year-old Hoàng Văn Hải, 28-year-old Trang A Vừ and 28-year-old Thao A Sự – all reside in Nặm Đăm Hamlet, Cao Tân Commune, Pác Nặm District in the northern province of Bắc Kạn.

They were arrested late on Saturday evening at Khe Nằn Bridge. They admitted to the police that they were hired by a Lao national to travel from Bắc Kạn to a forest in Na Ngoi Commune in Nghệ An to get the drugs.

They were arrested when carrying the narcotics out of the forest.

According to Nghệ An police, from early Match, Kỳ Sơn District Police detected a drug ring operated by non-native people and they usually trafficked drugs from the central province to sell in northern provinces. Since then, investigations carried out and helped police catch the three suspects.

Meanwhile, in the southern province of An Giang, the province’s border guards arrested two suspects for involvement in the trafficking of 40kg of methamphetamine from Cambodia to Việt Nam.

The arrest was also part of ongoing investigations into traffickers who allegedly brought drugs from Cambodia to the province. Police were informed the traffickers received drugs in Cambodia on May 5 and hired a 7-seater car to travel to HCM City. The An Giang Border Guard Command asked for relevant agencies’ co-operation to catch the traffickers.

The traffickers travelled by boat on Bình Ghi River late on the evening of May 5. When police and border guards stopped them, the three suspects escaped on two waiting motorbikes before transferring to a car.

Police caught two of the suspects, named as An Ngọc Hà, 35 years old from Hà Nam Province and Nguyễn Văn Tài, 30 years old from Hải Phòng City, and found 40 bags of methamphetamine weighing about 40kg.

Hà and Tài admitted to the police that they travelled by ferry to Cambodia on May 6 and got paid VNĐ50 million (US$2,140) and VNĐ15 million ($642), respectively, to transport the drugs to Việt Nam. — VNS