Vietnam has detected four cases of cross-border drug trafficking since late last month, according to local newspaper People's Army on Tuesday.

Vietnamese border police in the central and northern regions arrested nine people, confiscated a total of 2.6 kg of heroin, and 600 ampoules of addictive substances, and some weapons. The newspaper did not specify the nationality of the detainees.

Between 2001 and 2005, a total of 1,014 wanted drug criminals were arrested or surrendered to local police, a review conference held by the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security in June was told.

In Vietnam, possessing, trading or trafficking 600 grams of heroin or 20 kg of opium could be punishable by the death sentence or life in prison.

The number of drug addicts in Vietnam surged 56.8 percent to 158,428 in 2005 from 101,036 in 2000. The ministry has recently proposed the government give bigger budgets to anti-social evil programs, including development of drug detoxification centers nationwide.

Vietnam, which has targeted to become a drug-free country by 2015, annually spends estimated 320 billion Vietnamese dong (20.1 million U.S. dollars) on detoxification activities.

Source: Xinhua