US embassy cable - 04HANOI663

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000663 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV; INL/AAE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, KCRM, PINS, VM, CNARC 
SUBJECT:  RECENT MAJOR DRUG CASES IN VIETNAM 
 
REF:  02 Hanoi 618 
 
1.  (U) Summary.  A recent large drug trial in Ho Chi Minh 
City concluded on February 26, with the People's Court 
handing down four death sentences, four life imprisonments, 
and other lengthy prison terms.  140 other suspects are to 
be tried at a later date.  Other cases in Son La, Da Nang, 
and Nghe An have resulted in relatively large seizures and 
numbers of arrests, indicating a possible increase in the 
amount and effectiveness of enforcement activity.  End 
summary. 
 
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HCMC CASE: DEATH AND LIFE SENTENCES 
----------------------------------- 
 
2.  (U)  According to press reports, police in Tien Giang 
province in coordination with the Ministry of Public 
Security (MPS) arrested Ngo Xuan Phuong, Ngo Duc Minh, and 
nine other members of a drug trafficking ring in May 2002 
(reftel).  On February 23, the eleven stood trial in Ho Chi 
Minh City.  The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court handed down 
four death sentences, four life sentences, and three other 
long prison sentences three days later, convicting them of 
trafficking about 39 kilograms of heroin, 50 kilograms of 
cannabis, 15 kilograms of synthetic drugs and 6,000 ATS 
tablets over the past ten years between Laos and Cambodia 
and on to Vietnam and Japan for consumption.  They also 
bought Ecstasy tablets in the Netherlands to sell in Ho Chi 
Minh City, according to press reporting.  Colonel Bui Xuan 
Hieu, Standing Office for Drug Control of Vietnam, called 
the case "very serious" due to the trans-national activities 
of the syndicate. 
 
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DRUG BUSTS IN DA NANG AND NGHE AN 
--------------------------------- 
 
3.  (U)  Separately, in Nghe An, a province that sits 
astride a trade route to Laos, the police arrested 10 
suspects in February 2004 and seized approximately seven 
kilograms of heroin.  According to the traffickers' initial 
confessions, the offenders had already trafficked about 87.5 
kilograms of heroin, press reports stated.  (Note: the GVN 
considers this the largest drug case in Nghe An's history. 
end note) 
 
4.  (U)  On February 27, the "biggest case ever recorded in 
Da Nang" took place, according to police sources quoted in 
VNExpress.  Searching the home of offender Nguyen Quoc Viet, 
the police seized six kilograms of heroin.  The cases in Da 
Nang and Nghe An are still under investigation, according to 
press reports. 
 
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NORTHWEST PROVINCE OF SON LA GETS SOME ACTION TOO 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
5.  (U)  In the first two months of 2004, Son La provincial 
police have arrested 215 suspects in 85 separate narcotics 
cases, and seized 3.7 kilograms of heroin, 6.6 kilograms of 
opium and a large quantity of ATS.  (Note: The large number 
of individual cases and the relatively small amounts of 
heroin and opium indicates that many of these arrests were 
of users and low-level dealers rather than large 
traffickers.  UNODC has identified Son La as a province with 
a severe drug use problem, especially in the ethnic Hmong 
community.  End note.) 
 
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MORE TO COME 
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6.  (U)  According to VnExpress, gang leader Ngo Duc Minh 
escaped the death penalty through "honest confession" of 
having trafficked 24 kilograms of heroin and 50 kilograms of 
cannabis.  (Note: according to the Vietnamese Penal Code, 
possession of 100 grams of heroin is punishable by death. 
End Note.)  Police expect Minh's confession to lead to 
further arrests and seizures. 
 
7.  (SBU)  Ho Chi Minh City's cases in the first two months 
of the year demonstrated an increase in the number of 
arrests and the quantity of drugs seized over the same 
period last year.  Doris Buddenberg, UNODC representative in 
Hanoi, told poloff that the recent uptick in activity is a 
result of a small increase in drug smuggling and a larger 
increase in enforcement actions, and noted that street-level 
heroin was less available in Hanoi recently.  Le Van Truong, 
Section Chief of MPS' Counternarcotics Department, 
separately attributed the increase to "improved 
investigation and combat techniques" in MPS and increased 
coordination among law enforcement agencies following a 
directive in 2003 from Prime Minister Phan Van Khai ordering 
greater interagency cooperation on counternarcotics. 
PORTER