Vietnam police catch drug smuggling trio attempting Australian heroine shipment
Thursday, July 21, 2016, 11:38 GMT+7
Officers under Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security have detained three individuals for attempting to ship heroine disguised as soap to Australia.
Police arrested Nguyen Van Toan, 37, Nguyen Hong Van, 37, and Nguyen Hong Sang, 44, on Tuesday in Ho Chi Minh City for further investigation into a heroine drug-smuggling ring.
The three attempted to conceal bricks of heroine in soap packaging and send them to Australia by post, police said.
Initial reports say that Toan traveled to Australia in 2010 where he met N.L., a Vietnamese Australian, in a casino.
Six years later, during the 2016 Lunar New Year holiday, N.L. arrived in Vietnam in search of Toan, persuading him to join the drug smuggling ring and promising to pay him VND40 million (US$1793.6) per brick.
In April, N.L. phoned Toan, asking him to take 400g of heroine and AU$5,000 ($3751.55) from a man, according to the reports.
Toan then had Sang disguise the drugs as soap and travel with Van to the Binh Thanh District Post Office to ship it to Australia.
Custom officers and police caught Van at the post office, where they discovered the heroine and suspended the parcel for investigation, the reports said.
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