Two Vietnamese drug traffickers were captured in an attempt to carry heroin from Laos to Vietnam for shipment to China on Thursday.
The drug traffickers, identified as Mr. Giang A Lanh, 34, and Ms. Ly Thi Mai, 32 are both facing charges of “illegally transporting narcotic substances,” VN Express reports.
They were apprehended as they attempted to transfer approximately 11 kilograms of heroin from Dien Bien Province to Lao Cai Province, which borders China.
The traffickers confessed that they had been paid VND 320 million (US 14,000) by a Chinese national to collect the drugs from Laos.
From there they transported 11 kilograms of heroin to the northern Vietnamese province of Lao Cai.
The two were caught by border guards in Lao Cai as they attempted to hand over the drugs to a third party.
Vietnamese police said they had been monitoring the two for approximately one month.
Drug trafficking remains a major concern in Vietnam, particularly in border areas such as Dien Bien, which shares borders with Pu’er city in China’s southern Yunnan province and Laos’ Phongsaly province to its west.
