The arrested men at the police station. — VNA/VNS Photo

ĐẮK LẮK — Đắk Lắk Province police on Saturday announced the expansion of an investigation into a drug ring after three men were arrested on suspicion of trafficking 1.8kg of narcotics from the border with Laos to the Central Highlands province.

At around 3:30am the same day, the police found 1.8kg of crystal meth, worth VNĐ450 million (US$19,340), hidden under the seats of a car travelling on the Hồ Chí Minh Road crossing Cư Né Commune, Krông Búk District, with three people on board.

They includex driver Lê Thánh Anh, 27, from Chư Pảh District of neighbouring Gia Lai province; Hoàng Linh, 32, from Krông Ana District, Đắk Lắk; and Lưu Văn Thái, 35, from Hải Phòng City.

Linh reportedly confessed that he was hired by a Vietnamese man named Đức to get the drugs from A Thao, a foreign national, in Kon Tum’s Bờ Y Border Gate and then deliver them to a buyer named Dung in Buôn Ma Thuột City, Đắk Lắk. He was to be paid VNĐ36 million ($1,550).

Linh and his accomplices were arrested by police while on the way to carry the drugs to Buôn Ma Thuột. — VNS