Public shock remains as Vietnamese kingpin Vu Hoang Oanh, nicknamed Oanh Ha, 67, managed to operate a cross-border drug trafficking network to transport 1.6 metric tons of narcotics worth VND1.4 trillion (US$56.4 million) to Vietnam.

She masterminded the operation when she was on the run from the international police for a few years.

Now, she and over 30 of her accomplices are waiting for a court trial.

The Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam on Friday issued an indictment against Oanh Ha, a resident of Hai Phong, a port city in the northern region, and 34 others for transporting illicit drugs from the Golden Triangle area to Vietnam for consumption.

The Golden Triangle, an intersection of Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar, is one of the world's biggest heroin-producing regions.

According to the indictment, the ringleader employed sophisticated tactics and advanced technology to operate a transnational drug cartel from June 2018 to September 2022.

Authorities reported that she and her 34 accomplices trafficked 1.6 metric tons of illegal drugs in Vietnam.

However, only 626 kilograms were included in the prosecution due to insufficient evidence for the remaining amount.

Oanh Ha, who is the older sister of Dung Ha, a notorious gangster in Hai Phong who died in an assassination in 2000, was arrested for involvement in a drug trafficking ring in 2002, and received a 20-year jail term. However, she was granted early parole.

Neglecting a chance of community reintegration, she continued to set up a more massive drug trafficking operation instead. 

After her release, she was detained in 2010 for running a gambling operation in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province, southern Vietnam. She continued being apprehended for joining gambling in Lam Dong Province in the Central Highlands region afterward. 

In May 2018, investigators busted a drug trafficking ring led by Oanh Ha, but she ran away.

Vietnamese police decided to issue a special wanted notice for her for drug smuggling, while she was also wanted by Interpol.

As per the indictment, Oanh Ha still recruited many underlings to operate a cross-border drug cartel network in spite of being an international fugitive.

The ring was discovered shipping over 600 kilograms of drugs from Cambodia to several localities in Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong City, Nam Dinh Province, and Hanoi.

Large-scale cross-border drug cartel

Her henchmen transported narcotics hidden in containers of goods from Cambodia to Vietnam several times.

In late 2018, Nguyen Van Nam, one of her underlings, his girlfriend Luong Thi Thu Huyen, and two others started to work for Oanh Ha. They came to her house in Phnom Penh to receive the drugs and transport them to Ho Chi Minh City.

Similarly, Nguyen Anh Bao Quoc became a drug trafficker for her drug operation at that time, and was paid VND20-30 million ($806-1,210) for each delivery.

In September 2022, Oanh Ha directed Quoc to rent a warehouse in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City to store used car gearboxes with narcotics hidden inside them.

The ring was quickly expanded as more warehouses in the southern metropolis were rented to store the narcotics.

Meanwhile, Nam was responsible for managing some warehouses in Hai Phong that stashed old gearboxes containing narcotics transported from Ho Chi Minh City.

The huge volume of drugs was delivered to customers in Hai Phong, Nam Dinh, Hanoi, and other neighboring localities.

According to court documents, 129 old gearboxes were successfully transported from Cambodia to Vietnam, containing a combined 629 kilograms of narcotics.

Nam admitted that he was paid some VND15.5 billion ($625,000) for all of his missions related to the drug trafficking ring led by Oanh Ha.

Drug ringleader’s sophisticated tactics

While on the run in Cambodia, Oanh Ha used UK or U.S. SIM cards for communication in order to duck police detection.

She also utilized fake names and covered her face while talking to her underlings on a social platform.

The various factions within the drug network operated under different names.

The ringleader and her associates used the messaging app Signal for communication, adopting nicknames like 'Colombia,' 'Mosscau,' and 'Mosscau Russia' to run the racket.

Despite their sophisticated tactics, the large-scale drug ring was eventually dismantled.

She was arrested on September 23, 2022 and the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court is set to open a trial for her and her accessories soon.

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