Bokeo Police Seize 4.3m Amphetamine Pills

Source: Vientiane Times

Police have launched a manhunt for a gang of drug traffickers after seizing more than four million amphetamine pills in Tonpheung district of Bokeo province last week.

Police are looking for seven to eight men who were involved in transferring the amphetamine from a boat to a pick-up truck at Simeuang-ngam village in Tonpheung district on Thursday night.

Police confiscated 4.3 million amphetamine pills but the men run away, an officer from the Bokeo Public Security Headquarters told Vientiane Times yesterday.

Officials said this was second of the largest seizures of illegal drugs in the province.

“Currently, we are speeding up our search for the men. We have seized amphetamine pills, a pick-up truck and a boat in the case,” one official said. In July, police in Bokeo seized almost five million amphetamine pills and 180 packages of heroin during a raid conducted with local authorities on a house at a rubber plant in Huaydinchee

The authorities found 4,990,000 amphetamines pills weighing 538.8 kg, and 180 packages of heroin weighing 69.5 kg in the possession of the owner of the house.

Police arrested the owner and launched an investigation to ascertain the identity of other people involved in the drug ring. The drug problem has been expanding in urban and rural areas of Laos, with some youngsters becoming drug users, leading to other social ills and crimes, including robbery and even murder.

Laos’ drug problem is an obstacle to the development of the economy and education. Part of the country is located within the Golden Triangle region and is affected by the illegal transit of substances.

Today, drugs seized by the authorities are set to be burned in Xaythany district of Vientiane province to mark the 17th anniversary of the National Day Against Drugs.