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News
December 31, 2002
Vietnam battles
rising tide of drug crimes
HANOI (Reuters) - Drug-linked crimes
were up 10 percent in communist-ruled Vietnam this year, with heroin featuring
in high-profile drug-smuggling cases that have ignited diplomatic tensions with
Australia.
Between November 2001 and November 2002, police in the southeast Asian country
uncovered about 14,000 drug trafficking cases, a rise of 10.5 percent, the
state-run Vietnam News Agency reported late on Monday.
Police say the quantity of heroin seized over the year is up 62 percent. Vietnam
is on an international drug route linked with Laos and Cambodia as well as
Europe.
The country, with a population of 80 million, has over 110,000 registered drug
addicts, a number that is expected to rise by eight to 10 percent a year.
Australians of Vietnamese descent have been in the centre of recent heroin
smuggling cases. Last week, 43-year-old Le My Linh's appeal against a death
penalty was rejected.
Unless granted clemency by Vietnam's president, she will die by firing squad for
trying to smuggle 882 grams (about two pounds) of heroin to Sydney from Vietnam
in November 2001.
Smuggling 600 grams (1.32 pounds) of heroin is punishable by death or life
imprisonment in Vietnam.
Three Australian sisters, aged 12, 14 and 24 are also facing charges of
smuggling heroin to Sydney and a 34-year-old Australian of Vietnamese origin is
awaiting sentencing after being arrested in January for a similar charge.
Australia opposes capital punishment.
Other drugs seized in transborder smuggling cases this year were opium and
narcotic pills.
Despite public campaigns including billboards in cities warning of the dangers
of drugs, Vietnam is facing a rise in illegal drugs usage.
That has prompted donor countries like Britain to offer help to combat the
problem. This month, the British Embassy in Hanoi funded a computer network to
collect and analyse drug control information across Vietnam.
Vietnam itself has invested over 500 billion dong ($32.55 million) to upgrade
and build detoxification centres in its biggest city, Ho Chi Minh City, to treat
23,000 addicts, the Vietnam News Agency said.
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