The Department of Drug-Related Crime C17B under the Vietnam Ministry of Public Security has uncovered a new international drug-trafficking network working out of India, after arresting four Vietnamese allegedly involved in the ring.

The Department said that the four suspects--three women and one man--were apprehended on July 17 and 19 for apparently trying to conceal and store 8kg of heroin.

The police have expanded their drug smuggling investigations and uncovered that some people of African-origin have also been involved in the ring, which also showed signs of money laundering operations.

Since June 10, Vietnamese drug investigators have unearthed a series of new international rings trafficking drugs to Vietnam from India, Pakistan, China, Turkey, Iran, Thailand and Malaysia by air. They have also arrested some suspected Vietnamese traffickers, as well as others from Nigeria, Zimbabwe and the Philippines, including alleged Nigerian ringleader Nnajin David Ete.

Ete told police that the ring had transported heroin from Vietnam to China 25 times since last year, each time carrying between 0.5 and 3kg.

The police also said that the drug traffickers had paid large sums of money to Vietnamese women to transport drugs by land and air from foreign countries to Vietnam and from Vietnam to third countries./.