Foreigners stand trial for cross-border transport of 216kg of drugs through Vietnam

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on Wednesday conducted a trial involving 22 defendants, including foreigners, who participated in a cross-border drug trafficking network that traded and transported more than 216 kilograms of narcotics.

As stated in the indictment, at 1:00 am on July 19, 2020, a division of the Ministry of Public Security, stationed at Tan Cang Cat Lai Port in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, detected a suspicious tractor trailer operated by a man named Doan Van Ngai. 

The vehicle was in the process of completing customs procedures for a shipment destined for South Korea.

An urgent inspection of the container led to the discovery of 40 plastic bags containing illicit substances concealed in marble bundles. 

The combined weight of these substances amounted to 39 kilograms.

Ngai said that he was providing transportation services for APE Industrial Machinery and Equipment Co. Ltd., owned by Huynh Thi Hoa Tran.

Officers then summoned Tran, who testified that the confiscated consignment belonged to Kim Soon Sik, who holds South Korean citizenship and is also her boyfriend.

As a result of these findings, authorities seized the drugs and initiated investigations against Kim and other relevant people for illegal possession, transportation, and trade of narcotics, and the use of counterfeit seals and documents linked to governmental agencies and organizations.

According to the investigation results, Kim arrived in Vietnam in May 2019 and rented an apartment in Thu Duc City for business purposes.

At the end of January 2020, Kim met Li Tian Guan at a South Korean eatery. 

In early June 2020, Li tasked Kim with trafficking narcotics, offering a remuneration of 5 million Korean won (US$3,800) per kilogram. 

Kim then sought assistance from Kang Seon Hak, a fellow inmate back in South Korea, for the drug transportation operations.

During the operation of the illegal business, Le Ho Vu, a Vietnamese only known as Be living in Cambodia, and many other accomplices repeatedly delivered drugs to Li, Kim, and Kang.

The indictment underlined that the case is a particularly severe transnational instance involving foreign individuals collaborating with Vietnamese accomplices to unlawfully store, transport, and trade narcotics from Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City. 

A portion of the narcotics was for domestic use, while the remainder was on the way to South Korea for consumption.

The total amount of narcotics, which come in various types, exceeded 216 kilograms, with over 162 kilograms being confiscated, while the remaining quantity successfully reached end users.

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