Vietnam indicts 3 Taiwanese for sending 229kg of heroin to Taiwan Some of the 600 bricks of heroin seized by Taiwanese authorities at the Taoyuan International Airport on November 17, 2013. AFP Vietnamese police have taken legal proceedings against three Taiwanese for their involvement in a case in which 600 bricks of heroin weighing 229 kg, worth nearly US$400 million, were sent by air without detection from Ho Chi Minh City to Taiwan in November last year. These Taiwanese are Sung Yuan Hsuan, 34, Pan Po Chung, 40, and Chen Kuo Shun, 37, who have been charged with “illegally transporting drugs” in Vietnam. They arrived in Vietnam on September 11, 2013 through Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC where they stayed at a hotel in District 3, according to investigators.  On October 16, they bought two loudspeakers from a company in Tan Phu District. Five days later, they purchased 10 more loudspeakers. The three men packed the devices in 12 cardboard containers and kept them at their hotel. After stuffing heroin into these 12 loudspeakers, the Taiwanese trio commissioned Le Hoa Trading and Forwarding Company Limited, located in District 1, to carry out all procedures necessary for sending the 12 drug-containing loudspeakers to Taiwan. Le Hoa then had another freight forwarding company, KL Freight Forwarding Company, which is a business partner of China Airlines, arrange with the carrier to send the shipments to the territory. On November 16, the 12 cardboard containers, weighing 438 kg in total, were transported to Tan Son Nhat. After e-customs procedures for the shipments were completed, the cargos were put through a scanning system of the airport’s security force for examination but the system failed to detect the drugs. The heroin, weighing 229 kilograms, was seized by Taiwanese customs officers at Taoyuan International Airport a day later. Each of the containers contained 50 bricks of heroin that were coated with chocolate paste in order to fool detection dogs, said Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau. The street value of the drugs, allegedly originating in Myanmar, is estimated at about $380 million. Investigation Vietnamese police and customs officials have launched their investigations into the case following the seizure. In late November 2013, Tan Son Nhat Security Services Company suspended four executives of a team in charge of scanning and inspecting goods for failing to discover the drugs. On November 26, 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc directed relevant ministries strengthen measures to prevent drugs from being shipped to and from Vietnam. He also asked the Ministry of Public Security to coordinate with competent agencies, both at home and abroad, to find out the origin of the drugs and identify those responsible for sending them to Taiwan. To date, Taiwanese police have arrested ten people for investigation. Tuoitrenews