Vietnam, China join forces to fight drug cartels

Some of the Asian region’s biggest drug cartels and new crime organizations are being picked apart with silent efficiency, by jointly administered programs of the two nations’ law enforcement agencies.

During the first half of this year, law enforcement in Vietnam detected more than 10,000 drug smuggling cases and made more than 15,000 arrests while China uncovered 78 cases and detained and prosecuted right at 100 criminals.

As a result of the concerted efforts on both sides there has been a steady erosion of organized crime's capabilities in both countries— a lesson for other nations in the Southeast Asian region threatened by drug gangs.

On July 28, as part of their continuing joint effort to combat drug cartels, law enforcement officials from Vietnam and China held a 6th meeting on drug control in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province.

At the meeting, Lieutenant General Dong Dai Loc, deputy director of the General Department of Police under the Ministry of Public Security, said Vietnam remains highly motivated today by fear of a return to the bad old days when criminal demands trumped national interests.

We have been having much success, said Lieutenant General Loc, in confronting and dealing with the increasing number of transnational crimes related to drug trafficking since the fifth meeting in Sichuan province, China in October 2015.

But that's not enough and we need to do more.

Participants at the meeting also shared information along with statistics on drug users and detoxification and education programs underway in each country. They also proposed measures to enhance cooperation, along the two nations’ borders in the coming time.