In August last year, Vietnam's Drug Crime Investigation Police Department (C04) was alerted by Chinese authorities about two men with a history of illicit drug production in China who had entered Vietnam with a large shipment of glass tubes suspected to be used in drug manufacturing. C04 then decided to launch an investigation to dismantle the drug ring.
The ring's ketamine production facility in Khanh Hoa (Photo by C04)
Following investigations, C04 identified the ringleader as Truong Xuan Minh, a 51-year-old Taiwanese national. He came to Vietnam in 2021, posing as an investor in ornamental fish farming and other business activities. Minh was strongly assisted by Doan Van Hung, 42, in Khanh Hoa.
Minh also lived as a couple with 30-year-old Pham Thi Le Han from Khanh Hoa.
In November 2024, Minh hired a 1,000-square-metre plot near a cemetery in Vinh Luong Commune, Nha Trang City, a remote and hard-to-access area. He arranged guards, installed surveillance cameras, and kept dogs on-site to detect intruders. He also rented another large plot near the leading site to store chemicals and equipment.
Minh employed two Chinese nationals and four Vietnamese workers to build the facility and set up drug production lines. The site was installed with very modern equipment, including cooling tanks, a centrifuge, an odour treatment system, a vacuum pump, and a water purifier.
By late January 2025, the facility's construction was finished, and the first phase of production started by mixing chemicals with additives and heating them to trigger reactions. This process produced approximately 1.8 tonnes of yellow powder, which was packed into 27 styrofoam boxes and stored in a cold warehouse in Nha Trang. Minh later suspended operations and instructed the suspects to return home. He claimed the facility was producing wastewater treatment foam to conceal the activity.
A few days later, Minh recruited four new workers and hired two Taiwanese individuals with extensive experience in drug production to begin the second phase.
Most of the activities took place overnight and lasted for many days.
Around midnight on March 22, 2025, roughly 200 police officers conducted a raid, detaining 11 suspects, including four Chinese nationals, four Taiwanese nationals, and three Vietnamese individuals.
The police have seized approximately 1.4 tonnes of high-purity ketamine and around 80 tonnes of chemicals from the drug ring.
On March 25, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sent a letter commending the police for their outstanding efforts in dismantling the drug ring.