PANO - The Border Guard High Command, in association with the Anti-Crime General Department under the Ministry of Public Security and Son La Provincial People’s Committee, held a ceremony on July 18th to review the first stage of Project 1048 on combating and preventing drug trafficking on Vietnam-Laos border area.

Present at the ceremony were Mr. Thao Xuan Sung, Deputy-Head of the Central Public Relations Committee and Major-General Nguyen Canh Hien, Deputy-Commander of the Border Guard, and a delegation from Hua Phan Province (Laos).

Over the past time, organized and armed drug crime is on the rise on the border area in Son La Province. Thus, anti-drug trafficking task forces of Defence and Public Security Ministries worked jointly to break many serious cases.

On November 23rd, 2011, the Department of Anti-Drug Crime of the Border Guard Command and the Anti-Crime General Department under the Ministry of Public Security set up Project 1048 to prevent drug trafficking in Sop Bau and Hua Phan (Laos) and Moc Chau, Son La (Vietnam). The plan aims to disseminate drug dangers to local people and strongly struggle drug crime in these localities.

Through investigations at drug abuse spots in Long Luong, Van Ho, Chieng Xuan and Chieng Son, relevant forces made a list of hundreds of suspects and collected important information and documents for further tasks. Until June 30th, 2012, the police and border guards detected 13 crime cases, arrested 16 criminals and seized 62 cakes of heroin, over 5kg of opium poppies and materials related to drug trafficking.

In the second stage of Project 1048, the two units agreed to continue educating local people and cooperate with border localities and authorities in Hua Phan Province to survey and combat this social evil and create a drug-free community.

Translated by Van Hieu