Gangsters disguise cocaine as packaged food, drinks

Recently, in Ho Chi Minh City and in other parts of the country, there have been a number of new forms of drugs that have caused dizziness, nausea, and fainting for consumers, especially for students who are not aware of this.

The Ho Chi Minh City Police today said that drug dealers had new tricks. Criminals labeled cocaine as packed food, beverages, herbs, and electronic cigarettes.

Accidentally taking these mixed and marinated goods and foods can be dangerous and even life-threatening.

Criminals have processed and produced new kinds of narcotics such as 1eP-LDS, 2-FMA, 3-FEA, 3-MMC, MDMB-4en-PINACA, ADB-BUTINACA, 4F-MDMB-BUTICA, 4F-ABUTINACA, which are not on the list of banned substances, mixed in e-cigarette solutions. They sell e-cigarettes and entice people to use them illegally.

The new narcotics’ harmful effects will cause hallucinations, absence-like seizures, coma, and even death for users.

Most criminal groups have used chat groups on social networking platforms, Telegram, and Viber to buy and sell drugs on the internet to shorten transaction time with high security and used intermediary transportation companies such as Grab, Bee, Gojek to transport which has caused a lot of difficulties for police investigators.

Drugs are contained in packages of weight loss tea, cordyceps, and juice powder packages with confusing words such as Crispy fruit, Crispy fruit grape, Mango, Yaoyao, strawberry juice, 'Happy water', 'White Coffe' products.

They are transported to Vietnam in the form of hand-carried goods, by road, by water, and by air and are sold in online shops, entertainment venues, bars, and discostheques. In particular, gangsters also sold narcotics at educational institutions, universities and high schools to entice students to use drugs.

Therefore, the police of Ho Chi Minh City asked people to raise their vigilance, update and keep an eye on the methods and tricks of drug dealers to prevent and avoid drug-related risks for themselves and for their family members.

Parents should educate and advise their children not to participate in the possession and use of narcotic substances, especially new drugs such as e-cigarettes, functional foods, and psychostimulants of unknown origin or not yet licensed for circulation in Vietnam by the government.

Moreover, people should denounce organizations and individuals that illegally store, trade and use narcotics to local authorities.

Source: SGGP