Police busts large safe haven of drug trafficking lords in Son La

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The Son La police in coordination with other police units carried out a two-day raid on a drug trafficking group including some red-wanted fugitives accused of trafficking drugs, in Van Ho district.

Police arrest members of the drug ring in the northern Vietnamese province of Son La on June 28, 2018.

The criminal group was led by two drug barons, named Nguyen Thanh Tuan and Nguyen Van Thuan. They had been wanted by the investigation agencies of the Ministry of Public Security and the Quang Ninh Provincial Police and were considered especially dangerous members of the drug ring which was reported to have traded hundreds of kilograms of heroin. 

The criminals hided in to Ta De village (in Long Luong commune) and equipped themselves with AK guns, hunting rifles, pistols, and grenades.

Road to Long Luong commune, Van Ho district, Son La province.

During the raid, the police spent hours persuading the drug traffickers to give themselves up for the leniency of the law. However, the drug lords denied and used weapons to fight back the participating forces fiercely.

Houses comprising the ring’s “fortresses” in Long Luong Commune.

The police force then decided to attack and destroyed the criminal group, arresting a number of suspects. At the scene, the police seized four guns, 415 bullets, three grenades, and other exhibits of the case.

A specialized vehicle used to raid the drug lords.

No officers were reported to be injured during the fire exchange.

According to Son La Police, Thuan and Tuan were previously wanted for running an illicit ring that smuggled narcotics from Laos into Son La, where the goods were distributed to a third country. In 2015, their ring members were caught red-handed transporting 490 cakes of heroin inside gas canisters in Hanoi. Exhibits confiscated by police officers. According to Colonel Pham Van Truc, chief of police in Van Ho District, there are more than 50 wanted criminals hiding in Long Luong Commune, all previous members of notorious drug rings from across Vietnam. The drug dealers have recruited local residents for their operations and rely on their familiarity with the roads around the mountainous locality, Col. Truc elaborated. They are considered dangerous and are known to use guns and grenades as deterrence to police intervention, he added.