Title 3--The President implemented and included public trials of high-ranking government and party officials involved in illicit drug and other smuggling. Due, in part, to its location so close to the "Golden Triangle," Vietnam is a major transit point for opium and heroin. To address this problem, the GOV set up special task force units to combat drug trafficking along the borders, and police, customs and border forces arrested 19,010 drug crimi- nals, an increase in arrests of 31 percent over last year. Drug interdictions increased by 32 percent, with seizures of 51.8 kilograms of heroin, 3\1774 kilograms of opium, and 369 kilograms of cannabis. In its first year of oper- ation (September 1998-September \177999), the marine police force began pa- trols to detect drug trafficking. Vietnam also tightened oversight and con- trol of precursor chemicals, transferring responsibility for monitoring to the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Public Health, and Department of Customs, and set up a Precursor Chemical Control Force in the Ministry of Health. In 1999 GOV began work on preparing draft counter-drug legislation to modernize organized-crime statutes and techniques, enhance law-enforce- ment efforts, and strengthen compliance with the 1988 UN Drug Conven- tion, to which Vietnam is a party. Vietnam is negotiating counter-drug agreements with China and several EU countries, has cooperated with Interpol, and has worked closely with U.S. law-enforcement agencies. In April 1999 the Vietnamese Police ioined the ASEANOPOL Criminal Infor- mation System. UNDCP is assisting Vietnam revise its Master Plan against drugs and craft its new counter-drug legislation. Vietnam supports UNDCP proiects targeting demand reduction, crop substitution and suppression of drug trafficking. The United States and Vietnam have not yet concluded a counter-drug agreement. The GOV has not fully eradicated poppy crops, and farmers re- verted to poppy cultivation in some high-poverty rural areas, bringing an additional 645 hectares under cultivation in \177999 and increasing the total to 2,100 hectares devoted to poppy crops. Vietnam's National Assembly ap- proved penal code revisions that criminalize money laundering for the first time. The provisions will take effect on July 1, 2000. Vietnam is working with the World Bank to develop a money-laundering section in draft bank- ing legislation. Despite some notable shortcomings, Vietnam has made a vigorous effort to combat drug production and trafficking. There is no question that the GOV at the highest levels fully realizes the threat drugs present to their own people and society and is doing everything possible to counter the availability and use of illicit drugs. 384
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