Customs officers at Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat Airport caught an Australian man hiding 1 kg of methamphetamine on his body when he was about to leave Vietnam.

>> Overseas Vietnamese caught with over 2,000 drug tablets >> Vietnamese-Australians seized with 4 kg of heroin at airport

Fifty year-old De Santos Kevin William  was found hiding the synthetic drug on his calves when he was carry out procedures to fly out of Vietnam Sunday morning.

Customs officers said William looked very suspicious, so they searched his body and subsequently discovered the drugs.

The drug trafficker and his drugs were handed over to the city’s anti-drug police.

Initial investigations showed that William is a drug addict and belonged to a large transnational drug trafficking ring, police said, adding that they are expanding their investigation into the case. In related news, on August 16, concerned agencies in HCMC detected and seized 12 kg of Pseudoephedrine (PSE), a precursor that can be used to prepare methamphetamine, a very addictive stimulant.

The PSE, worth up to VND10 billion (US$480,000), was sent in the form of food gifts by individuals in Can Tho City to their relatives in Australia through express delivery service, said customs officers at the nExpress Customs Sub-departmet, under the HCMC Customs Department.

The drugs were packed into three packages that were to be sent to three different addresses in Australia, customs officers said.

On May 21, customs officers at Tan Son Nhat detected and seized 12 heroin cakes from two Vietnamese-Australian women who were about to fly to Australia. P.T.D., 36, and P.T.T.Q, 31, both of Australian nationality, were caught hiding the cakes in their suitcases while carrying out procedures to board flight VN773 to Sydney. The heroin cakes weighed 4.18 kg in total.