Police in northern Lai Chau Province yesterday arrested three men for carrying five cakes of heroin while they were travelling on a bus yesterday.

>> Police seize six for trafficking marijuana from Laos While patrolling in the province’s Lai Chau Town on June 2 afternoon, a police team stopped a suspicious bus for examination and caught Vang A Sua, 35, Va Thi Dinh, 27, and Giang A Nenh, 25, hiding five cakes of heroin weighing more than 1.7 kg and 991 synthetic drug tablets in their handbags. The traffickers, who are natives of northwestern Dien Bien Province that borders Laos, told police that they had bought the drugs from a Laotian and intended to take them to Lai Chau for sale. The police made a report to seize all the drugs and detained the three traffickers for investigation. As previously reported, border guards in Dien Bien and a security unit of Laos’ Phongsaly province on May 1 raided several houses in a Lao hamlet, seizing heroin, weapons and assets worth over US$1.2 million. The joint force raided the homes of three alleged drug traffickers – Tong Dia, Tong Dinh and Chu Mua Ly – in Pa Hoc hamlet, Muong May district, and seized 34 cakes of heroin, 15.3kg of heroin powder, 64.5kg of additives used in heroin processing, five guns, 186 K56 rounds of ammunition, more than 1,000 rounds for sport guns, and 28kg of dynamite. The force also confiscated automobiles, an unspecified amount of money in both US dollars and Vietnamese dong; as well as gold, and tools and machinery used to refine heroin. The total value of these items is estimated at over VND25 billion, equivalent to $1.2 million.