A dragnet of hundreds of police and militia are searching for a Lao heroin smuggler who escaped arrest in the Vietnamese province of Ninh Thuan, police said Monday.
Police believe the smuggler is somewhere in a 3-square-kilometre area of farmland, said Phan Quang Muc, head of the province's anti-narcotics police department. His suspected partner was earlier cornered and shot by police.
The fugitive is believed to be Lao citizen Khamseng Vichitvongsa, 52. Police have been pursuing Khamseng and another Laotian man, Vong Oudom Douangchanh, 31, since Thursday after receiving information from anti-narcotics forces.
Police found 6 kilograms of heroin in the suspect's abandoned car near a cornfield.
On Friday night, a woman discovered Vong hiding in a canal. He asked her in broken Vietnamese to buy him some food, giving her 30 dollars and a mobile phone.
The woman informed the police, who surrounded Vong and asked him to surrender. Vong instead shot and wounded two officers, before police killed him.
Muc said the national authorities had informed the Lao embassy of the situation, and was preparing to register a warrant for Khamseng with Interpol.
Manhunt in Vietnam for Lao heroin smuggler
A dragnet of hundreds of police and militia are searching for a Lao heroin smuggler who escaped arrest in the Vietnamese province of Ninh Thuan
Source: DPA
