Vietnamese police have detained a 57-year-old Laotian man since he was caught illegally transporting 60,000 synthetic drug tablets in Hanoi on Sunday. Police officers arrested the foreigner, whose name is translated into Vietnamese as Thao Kham Chan, after finding the huge number of drug tablets in his backpack when he was standing at the My Dinh Bus Station in Nam Tu Liem District in the morning. Police said they found some suspicious signs so they decided to search the man. On rummaging through the backpack, police officers detected 300 plastic bags which contained 200 pink tablets. After being escorted to the district police station, the man confessed that all these tablets are drugs. He also said he worked as a driver. Testing showed that the tablets are compressed synthetic drugs. Police are investigating the case to find out the origin of the drugs. Under Article 194 of the Vietnamese Penal Code, twenty years of imprisonment, life imprisonment or capital punishment can be given to those who are convicted of illegally stockpiling, transporting, trading in or appropriating heroin or cocaine weighing one hundred grams or more.

The same penalties are also given to those who commit the crimes in one of the following circumstances: opium resin, marijuana resin or coca plasma weighing five kilograms or more; marijuana leaves, flowers, fruit or coca leaves weighing 75 kilograms or more; dried poppy fruit weighing 600 kilograms or more; fresh poppy fruit weighing 150 kilograms or more; other narcotic substances in solid form weighing 300 grams or more or in liquid form measuring 750 milliliters or more.

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