Son La police erase drug trafficking hot spots, eliminate crime bosses

At a press conference in Son La on July 3 on the results of two campaigns coded 18TN and 19TN, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Tran Thanh Son of the Son La Public Security Department, said that Long Luong is home to 30 wanted criminals, 134 drug addicts, 28 drug-related suspects, 72 inmates in re-education camps, and 65 former prisoners.

A great number of plans and programmes on comprehensive investment have been implemented to boost socio-economic development of the district, including one by the provincial police to turn Long Luong from a drug trafficking hub into a drug-free locality.

Over three years, local police arrested 25 suspects, seized 498 cakes of heroin, 35,059 tablets of meth, 21 guns, and 333 bullets, announced Son.

However, while progress was seen in raiding the drug trafficking activities of armed and cross-border criminals, local police faced fierce resistance from traffickers and wanted criminals who teamed up with their accomplices in other localities in order to continue drug-related crimes. Notably, Nguyen Thanh Tuan, born in 1983 in Hanoi, and Nguyen Van Thuan, born in 1984 in Ha Nam, were two extremely dangerous criminals who hid in Lung Xa and Ta De hamlets to avoid the police, forming a new drug ring using firearms and explosives.

In a raid from June 27-30, the police eliminated Tuan and Thuan, arrested three others, and seized 49 guns, 17 grenades, and more than 7,000 bullets.

On July 2, the Investigation Police of Son La started legal proceedings for the charges of illegally storing military weapons and equipment, and resisting on-duty authorities in Ta De hamlet of Long Luong commune, Van Ho district.

Meanwhile, Colonel Phung Tien Trien, Vice Director of the Son La Public Security Department, said that in the future, the police will continue coordinating with the local Party Committee and administration to stabilise the situation in Lung Xa and Ta De.  The force will continue hunting for the wanted criminals in Long Luong, trying to persuade them to give themselves up, the officer said.