On the morning of June 18, the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department (C04) of the Ministry of Public Security held a conference to provide information on a number of major cases that the agency has cracked down on recently, on the occasion of the month of action against drugs.

At the conference, Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Vien, Director of Department C04, said the world has been facing a drug threat that is becoming increasingly complex and increasing in nature and extent. Criminal organizations are operating in increasingly sophisticated, reckless and aggressive ways.

Lieutenant General Vien said that the world has about 296 million drug users, equivalent to 5.8% of the global population. The drug market is increasingly diverse, in addition to synthetic drugs such as crystal meth and ketamine, the subjects also produce synthetic drugs that are 50 times more addictive than heroin and 100 times more addictive than morphine.

In Vietnam, drug crimes are also becoming more complicated on key routes, including air routes and post offices. The situation of organizing, harboring, and gathering to illegally use drugs continues to be complicated, especially in business establishments with sensitive security and service conditions. Many people use synthetic drugs for a long time, leading to loss of behavioral control, "stoned", causing tragic incidents, traffic accidents with particularly serious consequences, affecting social order and safety.

In addition, recently, there have been some new highly toxic addictive substances that have not been regulated in the List of Drugs issued by the Government. In particular, in the context of developing science and technology, drug criminals take advantage of technology and cyberspace to commit complex crimes, with an increasing trend, and increasingly sophisticated methods of operation that are difficult to detect.

Criminals take advantage of applications and social networking platforms to illegally buy and sell drugs; organize, entice, entice, and gather to illegally use drugs; instruct, prepare, produce, and illegally use drugs... During the delivery process, the subjects also take advantage of transportation services such as technology-based motorbike taxis, taxis, etc. to avoid detection and arrest by authorities.

According to Lieutenant General Vien, in the first 6 months of 2024, the national drug crime investigation police force coordinated with functional forces to crack down on more than 14,000 cases, arrest more than 23,000 subjects; seized nearly 200 kg of heroin, 882 kg of marijuana, 2.34 tons and 1.47 million synthetic drug pills.

Of which, C04 alone solved 33 cases, arrested 138 subjects, seized more than 81 kg of heroin, 25 kg of liquid synthetic drugs and 82,000 synthetic drug pills.