US embassy cable - 03HANOI827

UNCLAS HANOI 000827 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV; INL/AAE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, KCRM, PINS, VM, CNARC 
SUBJECT:  LARGE DRUG CASE IN LAI CHAU PROVINCE RESULTS 
--         IN SEIZURES, DEATH SENTENCES 
 
REF:  02 Hanoi 618 
 
1.  (U) SUMMARY.   Vietnam's state-controlled media gave 
prominent coverage to what was described as the "largest 
drug case ever" in the northwestern province of Lai Chau. 
The trial concluded on March 14, with the provincial 
people's court handing down six death sentences (two others 
had also been sentenced to death last June), 11 life 
imprisonments, and other lengthy prison terms.  The case 
also gained prominence due to the unusual murder of an 
undercover police officer.  Relative to the probable large 
quantities of heroin transiting the province, the amount 
seized during this case was relatively modest.  END SUMMARY 
 
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LAI CHAU --  A DRUG "HOTSPOT" 
----------------------------- 
 
2.  (U) Lai Chau province in northwestern Vietnam shares 
borders of 180 miles with the PRC and 215 miles with Laos. 
It is one of Vietnam's premier drug "hotspots" (reftel) as a 
main smuggling route for Golden Triangle heroin and, more 
recently, for amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS).  Bui Xuan 
Hieu, Chief of the International Cooperation and Project 
Management Division in the national Standing Office for Drug 
Control, reaffirmed to Pol FSN on April 1 that the drug 
situation in the province remained "very difficult," 
especially around the Tay Trang border crossing area.  He 
noted that, at a conference to review drug control and 
prostitution prevention held in Hanoi this past March, Prime 
Minister Phan Van Khai had expressed special concern over 
the "serious" drug trafficking from the province.  Hieu (who 
attended the conference) recalled that the Prime Minister 
had instructed that all "relevant law enforcement agencies" 
in Lai Chau province pursue a more coordinated approach to 
battle the traffickers. 
 
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CASE BACKGROUND 
--------------- 
 
3.  (U)  According to the "People's Police" newspaper, Lai 
Chau counternarcotics police first detected the case in 
September 2001.  Several suspects, in an attempt to escape 
arrest, murdered an undercover police lieutenant.  Three 
suspects were eventually arrested; two received death 
sentences in June 2002 for the police officer's murder. 
Subsequently, 27 accomplices were arrested; 24 stood trial 
in Lai Chau in March 2003.  On March 14, Lai Chau People's 
Court handed down four additional death sentences, eleven 
life sentences, and seven other long prison sentences. 
These defendants were convicted of trafficking about ninety 
kilograms of heroin over the past seven years from Laos via 
the Tay Trang border area, through Lai Chau province, and on 
to Hanoi and Thanh Hoa province (about 100 miles south of 
Hanoi). 
 
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MORE TO COME? 
------------- 
 
4.  (U)  Without citing specific details, Nguyen Van Hanh, 
Director of the  Lai Chau People's Committee Foreign Affairs 
Office, told FSN that the provincial counternarcotics police 
are developing other drug trafficking cases based on 
information obtained from these defendants.  Hanh claimed 
that "even larger" cases will come to light in the "near 
future," possibly involving provincial officials. 
 
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COMMENT 
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5.  (SBU)  Despite the public trumpeting of this case and 
the harsh sentences, there is less here than meets the eye. 
While the seizures from this case were significant by local 
standards, foreign law enforcement sources, the UN, and 
DEA's Hanoi Country Office estimate that perhaps "hundreds" 
of kilograms of heroin are transiting Lai Chau province 
annually.  Nationwide, at least 55 people were executed for 
drug offenses last year; according to Vietnamese law, 
possession of even 300 grams of heroin can result in the 
death penalty. 
BURGHARDT