Officials from Vietnam , Laos and Thailand gathered at a conference in the central province of Quang Tri on August 17 to discuss ways to combat drug crimes along the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC).

The conference, the second of its kind, reviewed the cooperation in drug prevention and control among the three countries since the first conference held in Thailand ’s Mukdahan province in 2009.

The participants put forward cooperation measures, debated possibilities for further cooperation along the corridor and shared experience in the fight against cross-border drug trafficking.

Colonel Nguyen Kien, Chief of the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security’s Bureau on Drug Control, said the conference aimed to realise strong commitments of the Vietnamese, Lao and Thai governments in the fight against drug crimes, especially along the EWEC.

In recent years, drug-related crimes in Vietnam 's central provinces along the EWEC have became more complicated and dangerous, Kien said, adding that many transnational drug smuggling rings have been set up to transport drugs from the "Golden Triangle" to Vietnam .

Just in two years, authorities of Da Nang city, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Tri provinces detected 290 cases involving 609 offenders and seized over 838 kg of heroin, 11.7 kg of marijuana, and nearly 158,800 amphetamine tablets./.