Vietnam Morning Monitor: 14 foreigners suspected of stock trading scams, 35 detained in drug trafficking case

| POLITICS

-- General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President To Lam and a high-level Vietnamese delegation met with representatives of the Vietnamese expert and intellectual community working in strategic fields in Japan on the afternoon of November 8 (local time) as part of his official visit. At the meeting, Vietnam's top leader urged the expansion of networks connecting Vietnamese and Japanese experts to serve as bridges for bilateral cooperation in areas where Japan has strengths and Vietnam has growing needs, such as innovation, space technology, artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, quantum technology, marine science and the marine economy, digital technology, rare earth exploration and development, medical technology, advanced biotechnology, and hydrogen-powered high-tech agriculture.

| SOCIETY

-- Police in Dong Nai City, southern Vietnam, on Sunday night initiated legal proceedings and detained 35 people in connection with a drug trafficking ring operating across multiple provinces and countries, following a crackdown on October 27 that saw 104 people arrested or summoned. Authorities seized 18kg of crystal methamphetamine, five bricks of heroin, 1.8kg of ketamine, 1,800 amphetamine tablets, a gun, five bullets, three cars, five motorbikes, 40 mobile phones, drug-use equipment and VND450 million (US$17,500).

-- Vinh Long Province in southern Vietnam has provided free periodic health checkups and screenings to more than 3.37 million residents, covering 99.99 percent of the province's population, as part of a 90-day campaign to promote public health, detect diseases early and ensure long-term health management.

-- The Mekong Delta is forecast to experience two high-tide periods in November, with the second, expected from November 25 to 27, reaching significantly higher levels than the first, according to the Southern Institute of Water Resources Planning. The first high-tide period is expected to peak from November 11 to 13.

| HO CHI MINH CITY

-- Ho Chi Minh City police on Sunday said that they had discovered 14 foreigners staying illegally in Vietnam who were suspected of using computers and phones to carry out sophisticated scams to appropriate assets through a fake stock trading platform in Tan My Ward, Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) newspaper reported.

-- Ho Chi Minh City is expected to generate around 6 million tonnes of construction waste this year, according to the latest data cited by Derek Williamson, head of aggregate and concrete solutions development at INSEE Vietnam, at a talk show held as part of the closing ceremony of the Green Vietnam Festival 2026 in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday night. He illustrated the scale of the waste by comparing it to the volume of approximately 2,000 Olympic-standard swimming pools.

| ECONOMY

-- A survey released by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) on Sunday found that 72 percent of businesses expected Vietnam to remain one of the world's global business hubs in the coming years, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Can Gio mangrove forest