Authorities in Vietnam have uncovered the country’s largest synthetic drug operation to date, seizing a staggering 1.4 tons of ketamine during a sweeping raid in the coastal city of Nha Trang. The bust, the result of a six-month-long investigation, involved 200 officers targeting three interconnected facilities.
The coordinated operation culminated last Saturday with the arrest of 11 individuals. Among those detained was Chang Chun Ming, a 51-year-old Taiwanese national alleged to be the mastermind behind the scheme. Police had reportedly tracked Chang since his arrival in Vietnam in August, noting his suspicious importation of laboratory equipment, including a large supply of glass tubes.
According to Nguyen Van Vien, director of Vietnam’s Department of Drug-Related Crime Investigation, the facility featured an “exceptionally large-scale, modern production line” and employed advanced drug manufacturing technology. His comments, shared via the government’s official news portal, emphasized the sophistication of the operation and its unprecedented scale within Vietnam.
The group included four Vietnamese, four Chinese, and three Taiwanese nationals. Authorities said Chang rented a 1,300-square-metre (14,000-square-foot) plot of land in a remote part of Nha Trang, a popular destination among Chinese tourists, to set up the drug factory. He allegedly recruited two other Taiwanese nationals with chemical expertise to assist in the production process.
The ring primarily operated at night, producing semi-finished ketamine that was later transported to another facility for refinement. While the ketamine was of very high purity, none of it had yet entered distribution channels, either domestically or internationally, police confirmed.
The raid underscores Vietnam’s firm stance on drug crime. In December, a Vietnamese court sentenced 27 individuals to death for trafficking over 600 kilograms of heroin, methamphetamine, and ketamine—demonstrating the country’s zero-tolerance policy. Under Vietnamese law, possession of over 600 grams of heroin or 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine is punishable by death.
Vietnam’s proximity to the “Golden Triangle”—a notorious drug-producing region where Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar converge—compounds the challenge. Police have noted a rise in trafficking through economic hubs like Ho Chi Minh City, driven by improvements in transport infrastructure and Vietnam’s strategic location within Southeast Asia.
This latest bust not only prevented a significant amount of ketamine from reaching the streets but also exposed the increasing role Vietnam plays in the regional and global narcotics supply chain.
27 March 2025
