Tue, Aug 05, 2008 - Page 16 News List

Former enemies join forces in Southeast Asian drug war

The US and Vietnam have teamed up to fight a common enemy — the syndicates that traffic heroin and synthetic drugs through Vietnam

By Frank Zeller  /  AFP , HANOI

Cuong hasn’t come face-to-face with the drug gangs yet but wants to be ready when he does. His most dangerous operation so far, he said, was the arrest of a heroin addict who used his blood-stained syringe as a weapon.

The threat was serious — the UN Office for Drugs and Crime Control says heroin has been Vietnam’s most popular illegal drug since the 1990s and intravenous drug use now causes two thirds of all known HIV infections.

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