Dien Bien (VNA) – Police from thenorthern mountainous province of Dien Bien have arrested three people trafficking135 bricks of heroin and 500,000 synthetic drug pills.

The trio were captured at Muong Lay town onMarch 27.

Besides the drugs and synthetic pills, thepolice also seized a car, a mortorbike, and other objects of evidence.

[Biggest ever drug case in Vietnam uncovered]

 This is the large drugs trafficking case withthe largest quantity of synthetic drug pills seized in the country so far,according to the police.

According to the investigation agency, two outof the three arrested are residing in Dien Bien province while the other is aforeigner. The police declined to reveal their names as they will expand their investigationfurther.

Earlier on January 3 this year, the provincialDrug Crime Investigation Office arrested two persons transporting 489 bricks ofheroin weighing 171kg and worth 3 million USD, the biggest-ever drug case detectedin Vietnam, according to the local police.

Drug-trafficking remains a major issue inVietnam, especially at border areas, including Dien Bien, which is bordered byPu’er city in China’s southern Yunnan province to the northwest and Laos’Phongsaly province to the west.

Nearly 21,471 drug-trafficking cases werereported in 2017, up 14.5 percent from 2016, according to a report oncollaboration among the Police General Department, the General Department ofVietnam Customs, Vietnam Border Guard High Command and Vietnam Coast Guard.

Some 32,950suspects were detained, a 13.6 percent increase over 2016’s figure.

Statistics from the Vietnam Border Guard showedthat the amount of synthetic drugs and marijuana seized in 2017through the border of Vietnam and Laos respectively increased seven times andtwice compared with 2016.-VNA