Vietnam and Cambodia boost anti-drug co-operation
VOV.VN - Vietnamese and Cambodian anti-drug forces held their third meeting on January 5 in Ho Chi Minh City.
In his speech, Major General Nguyen Van Vien, director of the Counter-Narcotics Police Department (C04) ) under the Public Security Ministry, said that co-operation between both sides has been fruitful.
Last year saw the C04 co-ordinate alongside the Anti-Drug Crime Department under Cambodia's Ministry of Interior to raid four major drug trafficking rings. Police operating in 10 localities along the Vietnam-Cambodia border detected more than 2,000 other cases involving more than 3,000 individuals.
Lieutenant General Khing Sarat, director of the Anti-Drug Crime Department of Cambodia, highlighted the efficiency of information exchanges between the two sides at national and local levels over recent years. As a result, Cambodian authorities were able to conduct a spate of successful raids, arrest suspects, and seized a variety of illegal drugs in the process.
He said that in order to improve the overall effectiveness of anti-drug crime activities along the Vietnam-Cambodia border, the Cambodian side will continue to focus on fine-tuning investigations into major cases to hunt down ring leaders. They will also strive to strengthen measures aimed at controlling the import and trading of precursor chemicals used to produce illegal drugs.
Major General Vien said that the two sides should intensify the exchange of drug-related information in a regular, accurate, and timely manner through hotlines between the two countries and Border Liaison Offices (BLO) in border localities.
Moving forward, the C04 will co-ordinate with Cambodian police in order to conduct joint anti-drug operations and arrest criminals, he said, adding that currently, 16 such criminals are on the run in Cambodia.
Regarding the current situation in Ho Chi Minh City, Colonel Hoang Tam Hieu, deputy director of C04, said that the main source of drugs in the southern city is from the "Golden Triangle" area through Cambodia and smuggled across the border into Vietnam to be sold inside the country, especially Ho Chi Minh City. Often they are then transported to third countries and territories such as Australia, Taiwan (China), and Japan.
He said that recently many foreigners, mostly Taiwanese nationals, had abused Vietnam's openness and loopholes in entry-exit and import-export management to set up fake companies which both produce and smuggle drugs.