HCMC – HCMC police have pressed charges against 502 people involved in a drug case in which four flight attendants were apprehended for carrying illicit drugs concealed in toothpaste tubes from Paris to Vietnam in March last year.
The suspects admitted to distributing 138 kilograms of illicit drugs with a total value of VND22 trillion before being caught by law enforcement.
The police have seized over 165 kilograms of illicit drugs, along with 10 firearms and other weapons associated with the drug ring.
On March 16, 2023, customs officers at Tan Son Nhat International Airport inspected the luggage of four flight attendants and discovered more than 11 kilograms of illicit drugs hidden in 157 sealed toothpaste tubes on a flight from Paris, France, to HCMC, Vietnam.
On March 22, 2023, the police released the four flight attendants due to insufficient legal grounds for pressing charges against them. The flight attendants reportedly said they had been hired to bring those toothpaste tubes to Vietnam.
Police investigations found that certain individuals had lured Vietnamese students or residents in France into cargo forwarding services to smuggle illicit drugs into Vietnam. These drugs were then sent via post to a suspect residing in Dong Nai Province.
Subsequently, the suspect distributed the drugs to other individuals in HCMC and Binh Duong Province who retailed the drugs across the nation.
