Hanoi [Vietnam], June 2: Police of the central Thanh Hoa province have arrested seven drug traffickers and seized 10 cakes of heroin and 22,000 pills of synthetic drugs, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.
A 70-year-old woman, the leader of the trans-border drug trafficking ring, and a 48-year-old man, both from the province's Thanh Hoa city, were caught red-handed transporting 10 cakes of heroin and 18,000 synthetic drug pills.
The woman had cooperated with some people to transport drugs from Laos to Vietnam, according to the news report.
Further investigating the case, police arrested five other members of the ring, aged from 25 to 40, seizing 50g of methamphetamine, 4,000 pills of synthetic drugs, a small pack of ketamine, and more than 2.8 billion Vietnamese dongs (about 121,400 U.S. dollars) in cash, the news agency reported.
According to Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces the death penalty.
Source: Xinhua
