Fierce combat against drug-related crimes in Cau Treo border area

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Drug traffickers in the Golden Triangle make full use of the rugged terrains and limited awareness of local ethnic minority people to traffic and hide drugs in far-flung areas along the borderline between Laos and Vietnam then seek ways to infiltrate the drugs into Vietnam and a third country.

In the past 5 years, the Border Guard Command of Ha Tinh in cooperation with the police force of Laos has continuously launched attacks and raids onto dens of drug traffickers.

Functional forces have succeeded in seizing tons of precursor, hundreds pies of heroin and synthetic drugs as well as arrested hundreds suspects at the Cau Treo border gate and in Laos’ land.

Drug traffickers and seized drugs in a case

Behind the peaceful local villages in the border areas of Ha Tinh (Vietnam) and Borikhamsay (Laos), drug-related criminals seek methods and ways to traffic drugs into Vietnam. As a result, involved forces of the two countries face various difficulties in tackling new tricks of criminals.

Many competent scouts of the Ha Tinh Border Guard have been deployed into the fight against drug traffickers. In many cases, scouts and police officers had to track suspects for many days in forests, living in a very difficult and dangerous condition.

According to the local authorities, drugs are collected in bulks from the Golden Triangle, then transported across the Mekong River to Borikhamsay and finally transported into Vietnam through the Cau Treo border gate area.

Ly Tau, also known as “the witch”, managed many major drug rings in the area. In the case of Ly Tau, the Ha Tinh Border Guard in collaboration with the police force of Laos succeeded in arresting 6 suspects and 92 bars of heroin.

Ly Tau has succeeded her mother’s career as a drug baron since she was 12 years old. She managed a large drug trafficking ring with many suspects of different nationalities, including American, Lao, Thai and Burmese citizens.

Among hundreds of drug cases in the border areas, it is worth mentioning a ring headed by a 47-year-old Thai national called Lam Phun Xilaxa, who rented a local farm in cover of tea and charcoal production in Bua Vieng Kham village, Pac Xan district, Borikhamsay to produce drugs.

Relevant forces succeeded in discovering the case, and seized 3.5 tons of precursors, 2 tons of compressed marijuana in cake shape, a marijuana shaper, a car and several documents related to drug-trafficking activities.