Police in the northern Vietnamese city of Hai Phong have broken up an interprovincial drug ring via a sophisticated operation.

Officers from the provincial Department of Police busted an organized crime gang on Monday evening, arresting Ho Kim Anh, 49, the mastermind behind the ring, and his second-in-command, 29-year-old Nguyen Thanh Phat, both residing in Ho Chi Minh City.

The gang had been transporting drugs from the southern metropolis to Hai Phong City before distributing the narcotic to nearby provinces including Nam Dinh and Quang Ninh.

An investigation revealed that Anh and Phat had been dealing with other suspects in northern provinces.

Phat is himself a drug addict who was previously forced to attend a rehabilitation center in the southern province of Binh Phuoc.

The suspects often hid their illegal hauls inside electronic devices or stored them among other similar-looking products and took passenger buses from Ho Chi Minh City to provinces in northern Vietnam.

They regularly switched coaches during their journeys and communicated with each other via secret codes to avoid suspicion.

After following the tracks of Anh and Phat, officers discovered them transporting a large amount of drugs from the southern city to Hai Phong and some nearby provinces on Saturday morning.

The illegal goods were stored in the empty spaces of loud speakers and ceiling lights.

On Sunday morning, officers caught the suspects red-handed as they were carried the narcotic aboard a taxi in Hai Phong, confiscating 13,000 synthetic drug pills weighing some 3.1 kilograms.

Anh and Phat admitted their guilt at the police station.

Officers are currntly expanding the investigation.

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