Foreigners entering Vietnam create business cover to trade drugs

	Nghe An Customs seizes 18,000 synthetic drug tablets
	Ho Chi Minh City Customs proactively coordinates to prevent drugs from entering the border gate
	Quang Tri Customs seizes drugs hidden inside motorbike engine blocks

Drug evidence in an operation jointly destroyed by Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities in early 2023. Photo: Provided by C04.

Establish a disguised business

The above information was shared by Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Vien, Director of the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department (C04), Ministry of Public Security, at the Conference summarizing the peak of propaganda, attack and suppression of drug crimes at Vietnam - Cambodia border in 2023 held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 29, 2023.

In recent years, at Vietnam - Cambodia border, the activities of all types of criminals, especially those of illegally trading and transporting drugs, have many complex factors and are on an increasing trend.

Subjects take advantage of the convenient travel and trade between the two countries, as well as the difficulties and loopholes in inspection and control, to illegally trade and transport narcotics from the "Golden Triangle" region through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia to Vietnam and then send to third countries for consumption.

Recently, there have been people buying, selling, and transporting synthetic drugs, including finished drug powder and packaging, from Cambodia across the border to Vietnam, then mixing them, crushing them into tablets, and then sending them for consumption in provinces and cities or continuing to be transported to third countries for consumption.

Notably, there are also foreigners entering Vietnam under the guise of tourism, visiting relatives, investing in business, etc to disguise themselves and connect with domestic subjects to establish "front" companies, but in fact it is to organize the illegal production, sale, and transportation of narcotics. These things have caused the drug problem and drug crime activities in both countries to continue to have many complicated developments in the past years.

Coordinate control at border gates

In the first 6 months of 2023 alone, the police of 10 provinces along the Vietnam - Cambodia border discovered more than 1,900 drug-related cases, arrested nearly 3,600 people, and seized 65.6kg of heroin and 8kg of marijuana, nearly 600kg and 99,176 synthetic drug pills.

During peak enforcement, Vietnamese police units and localities arrested 413 cases with 754 subjects, confiscating more than 400kg of synthetic drugs, 6kg of ketamine, 42kg of heroin, 300 packs of “happy” water and many more other relevant evidence; mobilized to surrender, arrested 21 wanted subjects, there are currently about 13 wanted drug subjects suspected of hiding in Cambodia.

According to the tables, Vietnam and Cambodia have a border more than 1,100 km long, including 10 border provinces of Vietnam next to 9 border provinces of Cambodia; There are 12 international border gates, 12 main border gates, 26 secondary border gates and many openings on both sides of the border. This creates favorable conditions for the authorities and people of border provinces to carry out many trade activities. However, this also poses a potential risk of being taken advantage of by criminal organizations to commit crimes across the border, including drug crimes.

To effectively fight drug crimes, the two countries' functional forces have coordinated and deployed professional measures; Investigate and discover many illegal production, trading, and transportation lines of transnational drugs, especially synthetic drugs; Arrested many criminals, including particularly dangerous long-term wanted suspects hiding in the territories of the two countries.

According to C04's assessment, the situation of drug crimes along the border between the two countries has not decreased, and even tends to increase, becoming complicated in terms of scale, nature and scope of operation, requiring the two sides to continue to promote further cooperation in the prevention, fight against drugs in the coming time.