VIET NAM Overview Drug situation in Viet Nam is well-controlled but it still contains many unpredictable factors. Drug trafficked into Viet Nam via northwest, central, north border lines, international air routes and sea routes. The Northwest and North Central of Viet Nam bordered with Lao PDR continue to be the key area for drug trafficking. Functional forces have stopped dozens of drug trafficking cases with hundred blocks of heroin. Viet Nam-China border was found to have heroin trafficking and trading from Viet Nam to China and ICE from China to Vietnam. Activities along Viet Nam- Cambodia border are still complicated. Viet Nam uncovered synthetic drug (ICE) trafficking routes to the Southern provinces and then pressed into tablet for consumption. The drug trafficking by express mail service, air routes, sea routes have signs of increasing. Synthetic drug trafficking situation The trafficking of synthetic drugs has increased rapidly. In addition to trafficking via the border between Viet Nam-China, the amount of synthetic drug trafficking via Viet Nam-Lao border has also increased dramatically. Illegal trade and manufacture of drug in the country is still complicated. Some suspects have searched for formulas online to produce synthetic drugs in a large scale with the precursors available in the market. 1. Drug use situation In 2017, there are 219,479 drug users, an increase of 8,764 compared with 2016, most of whom are living in society accounting for 67.5%. 1
0.53 0.76 36.75 158414 171400 181396 204377 200134 210750 219479 120897 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Number of drug users Statistics of Drug addict Age of drug users 18.8 13.7 67.5 61.69 in society Drug treatment centers in detentions, educationain detentions, educational centersl centers < 16 16-18 18-30 > 30 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2014 2015 2016 2017 3 first months of 2018 Heroin Meth and others 2
2. Drug-related crimes 2.1. Drug trafficking In the past years, given the complicated drug-related crimes situation, the activity of drug control in Viet Nam has been carefully directed by the Party, the Government, as well as positively supported by the People, branches and organizations. As a result, Viet Nam functional forces have gained many notable achievements and dismantled a lot of large-scale and transnational drug trafficking networks. However, due to the influence of domestic, regional and international situation, plus the super profits obtained from the illicit drug trafficking, the drug situation in Viet Nam still remains complicated. Illegal drugs smuggled into Viet Nam come mainly from foreign countries. The number of foreign-related case has been rising, their scope has become wider, and the drugs have been transported from not only the countries in the Asia-Pacific region but also West African and South American countries in increasingly sophisticated ways. Land route (accounted for 90%) On the Viet Nam-Laos borderline, drugs have been trafficked from the Golden Triangle through Lao PDR into and consumed in Viet Nam or transported to other countries. On the Viet Nam-China borderline, drug trafficking has been conducted in two very complex ways: heroin is transported from abroad to Viet Nam and then to China; conversely, synthetic drugs, mostly methamphetamine, are transported from China into Viet Nam to be consumed. On the Viet Nam-Cambodia borderline, a number of drug trafficking networks have emerged, transporting synthetic drugs from Cambodia to Viet Nam and from South America to Viet Nam via Cambodia. The mainly bought and used drugs are heroin and synthetic drugs while methamphetamine case tends to increase sharply in frequency and quantity. Cocaine, some new addictive medicines, opium and cannabis cases have a tendency to decrease. In Viet Nam, the number of synthetic drugs users has been growing, leading to an increasing number of illicit drug trafficking, synthetic drug possession and production crimes. Due to the development of Viet Nam's chemical industry, the number and the type of trading, importing, exporting and purchasing chemicals and precursors are increasing more and more. Air route Drug trafficking by air route is getting more and more complicated. The criminals often take advantage of travelling to transport drugs with a variety of sophisticated tricks. Particularly, in recent times, the transport of drugs through air cargo delivery services has tended to increase. Main air routes include, + Viet Nam to Australia and vice versa, 3
+ Viet Nam to China, Taiwan; + Viet Nam to some countries in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Malay sia, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia and vice versa; + West Africa through Doha (United Arab Emirates), India into Viet Nam. Sea route Due to the impact of international, regional and domestic drug-related crimes, the diversity and convenience of sea transport along with the high profits from illegal drug trade, the situation of drug-related crimes through sea route in Viet Nam has unpredictable factors. In light of the fight against drug-related crimes on sea route, the following transportation routes are recorded: - Entry: From Africa, South America, South Asia to Viet Nam - Exit: from Viet Nam to Australia; Viet Nam- China; Viet Nam-Taiwan. 2.2 The modus operandi is increasingly sophisticated and frequently changing, especially in the ways of hiding, transporting, delivering as well as exchanging information on drug trafficking. Several examples to be mentioned are: dissolving the drugs in water, then bottle it for disguise; making holes to hide drugs in the ceiling of cars; delivering drugs via courier services without specific address of the senders and the recipients; using modern means of communication, etc. In addition, realizing the high demand for synthetic drugs in provinces and big cities, some criminals have searched for the formulas available on the internet in order to extract and produce synthetic drugs from precursors, new uncontrolled medicines and veterinary drugs widely sold in the market. 3. Precursor trade in Viet Nam Viet Nam now has 43 precursors under control. Controlling legal activities Apart from a few types of precursors Viet Nam could already self-produce such as H2SO4, HCl; most of the precursors are now imported, mainly from China, Singapore, Taiwan and India; to be used for production and business purpose in export production zones and industrial zones. Trading, exporting, importing and business enterprises of precursors are usually largescale ones with many years of experience in trading precursors. They are regularly appraised by functional agencies and have legal status to sell and buy precursors. In 2017, Ministry of Health authorizes the import of 350,000 tons and 400,000 liters of precursors and chemicals contain precursors, about 10-15% higher than in 2016, mainly acetone, toluene and methylethyl ketone. 4
Controlling illegal Activities In the past few years, there has been an increase in the illicit precursor trade in and out of Viet Nam, especially the high-risk types used in the production of illicit synthetic drugs such as pseudoephedrine and ephedrine. Viet Nam has detected and cracked down several cases in which new medicines containing precursors are collected, extracted for illegal production of synthetic drugs or illegal transportation to foreign countries. The criminals main modus operandi is to extract low-content precursors found in new medicines for illicit purposes (illegal synthetic drug production in Viet Nam or illegal transportation to foreign country). For instance, in April, 2017, Viet Nam functional forces broke the case of producing synthetic drugs from precursors in Ho Chi Minh City, arresting Tran Ngoc Hieu and his accomplices, seizing 500,000 ecstasy tablets, 85 kilograms of MDMA powder and 2.5 tons of precursors including safrole-rich oil, methylamine, acetone, and methanol. Drug seizure: In 2017, the Counter-Narcotics Police Department has cooperated with functional forces to arrest 22,346 cases, 34,494 subjects related to drug crimes, an increase of 3,013 cases (equivalent to 15%), 3.493 subjects (equivalent to 11%) in comparison to 2016. Besides, the functional forces have seized 906.7 kilogrammes of heroin; 856.9 kilogrammes and 979,487 tablets of synthetic drugs (the amount of heroin increased by 50%, the amount of synthetic drugs increased by 130% compared to 2016); 2.39 kilogrammes of cocaine; 167.1 kilogrammes of opium; 376.4 kilogrammes of dry cannabis; 111.02 kilogrammes of fresh cannabis; 5,600 kilogrammes of khat leaves; 108.01 kilogrammes of XLR-11 "American grass"; 17.64 kilogrammes of ketamine; 319 guns; 1,015 bullets; over USD 1.1 million and other exhibits and assets. The functional forces of Viet Nam received and processed 152 pieces of information on drug-related crime provided by international police forces. 4. Cultivation of plants containing narcotic substances 40 30 20 10 30 35 23 19 17.5 Area (ha) 12.7 11 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 5
Viet Nam discovered and eradicated 10 ha of opium, mainly in Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Son La and 1 ha of cannabis scattered in provinces in the Mekong Delta, highlands and some mountainous provinces in the North. (See details of sustainable alternative development in narcotic plants cultivation area in Chapter 5). Challenges In 2017, Vietnam obtained great achievements in the fight against drugrelated crime which has been shown clearly through mentioned above issues. However, there are still challenges in drug control for the Government of Vietnam such as: There is no Extradition and Criminal Justice Assistance Agreement among Viet Nam and many other countries in the region and in the world; therefore there is no legal base for co-ordination in an arrest of wanted drug offenders. Moreover, there remain many difficulties in exchanging evidences, criminal traces; in the establishment of joint survey teams; in immigration control, etc. Due to various causes (profits, demand, and so on), criminals increasingly take advantage of legal loopholes to illegally purchase and trade precursors for illegal purposes, especially high-risk precursors used in the production of illicit drugs such as pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, etc. Meanwhile, the process of amending, supplementing and issuing legal documents is still prolonged, not meet the current situation. Drug precursors include many kinds of chemicals and components which appear in almost all fields of social life, thus the management and control have many difficulties and not been managed in the same way as the route of all precursors trafficking, as well as in determining mixed precursors for granting license. Precursor control action depends greatly on the legal management and control of the functional agencies (Police, Health, Industry and Trade, Customs, and so on). However, the market management force is not a part of the inter-sector working group, so it is difficult to manage the trafficking, transportation and storage of precursors. Criminal Law of Viet Nam stipulates that it is necessary to prove the case of use of precursors for drug-related purpose. Then, the case is subject to criminal penalties for drug offenses. Therefore, the handling of case related to the trading, transportation of precursors is limited. 6
On the other hand, there are still some other potential challenges such as the emerging of NPS, weakness of law enforcement officer s capacity, the limitation of domestic and international cooperation among functional agencies, lack of equipment, etc. Conclusion The Government of Viet Nam always attaches great importance to drug control activities on every aspect by issuing comprehensive legal documents on drug control, strengthening law enforcement, enhancing international cooperation, improving judicial matters, drug treatment, etc. Viet Nam also promotes international cooperation through bilateral or multilateral agreements or memorandums of understanding between the Vietnamese and foreign governments and international organizations. Cooperation activities have been implemented effectively in many aspects such as exchange of criminal information, coordination and assistance in investigating crimes and arresting international wanted subjects; exchange of experience and training, etc. Viet Nam will continue to cooperate closely with UNODC, INTERPOL, ASEANAPOL, international organizations, countries in the region, especially the Asia-Pacific countries and carry out operations on drug prevention and control. Special attention would be paid to the control of precursors to prevent the abuse of the use, production of synthetic drugs. Furthermore, Viet Nam continues to negotiate and sign bilateral agreements on drug cooperation with countries highly involved in combating drug-related crimes. 7