VZCZCXRO0130
RR RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #1133/01 1710232
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200232Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5680
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 3269
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 001133 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS; INL/AAE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR KCRM PINS VM
SUBJECT:  INL-FUNDED COUNTERNARCOTICS TASK FORCE UNIT DELIVERS 
RESULTS 
 
REF:  A) 06 Hanoi 3016 B) 06 Hanoi 748 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary. The Counternarcotics Task Force Unit (TFU) in Son 
La Province, set up as part of an INL-funded UNODC project, plays a 
key role in coordinating interagency efforts in the province's fight 
against drug trafficking.  Although the project concluded in 
December 2006 (Ref A), the coordination mechanism established under 
the project has been institutionalized and the TFU continues to 
produce significant results.  These include previously non-existent 
information sharing among law enforcement agencies, proactive 
measures to detect drug trafficking such as surveys of trafficking 
routes, a higher level of arrests and three times more heroin and 
ATS seizures compared with pre-TFU levels.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On June 5, Poloff met with Le Trong Loan, the Director of 
the Son La Joint Counternarcotics Task Force Unit (TFU) established 
under the UNODC G-55 counternarcotics program.  Also attending the 
meeting were Vu Xuan Luc, Deputy Chief, Counternarcotics 
Surveillance Office, Son La Provincial Border Army and Vu Xuan Dinh, 
Officer, Son La Provincial Customs Department.  The TFU was 
established in 2004 as part of a three-year INL-funded UNOCDC 
project to build GVN capacity in the fight against drug trafficking. 
 (Ref B provides additional background on the Son La TFU.)  The 
project concluded in December 2006. 
 
Son La on the Frontline in the Drug War 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to Loan, Son La Province is recognized as a 
"complicated drug hot spot," both within the Northwest region and 
nationally.  The province's drug problem includes both transit of 
drugs from Laos to points onward and local consumption, Son La 
having one of the highest rates of addiction in the country. 
Although the province used to have one of the highest rates of opium 
cultivation, Loan said the GVN's poppy eradication efforts have 
reduced cultivation to a small area. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Prior to the creation of the TFU in 2004, the Customs, 
Border Guards and counternarcotics police forces, working 
independently, investigated roughly 500 cases annually, involving 
the arrests of 600 offenders.  Despite these efforts and dozens of 
drug trafficking-related death sentences handed down annually, Loan 
said the drug problem in Son La Province continued unabated. 
Provincial authorities took additional steps, including: increased 
drug awareness education, more training for counternarcotics police, 
more referrals of drug addicts for treatment, poppy eradication 
efforts and targeting of illicit drug points-of-sale.  It was 
because of Son La's acute drug problem, and the province's 
determined counternarcotics efforts, that the province was chosen by 
the GVN and UNODC to host a TFU. 
 
¶5. (SBU) During the three years of the project, the province 
investigated 2,000 cases involving 3,000 offenders.  The project 
increased the interdiction capacity of law enforcement forces, 
resulting in the seizure of 174 kilograms of heroin, 34 kilograms of 
opium and 23,000 ATS tablets.  Project training in interdiction and 
arrest techniques enhanced the capability of border guards and 
counternarcotics police in border districts to make arrests. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Loan provided examples of "typical" seizures that took 
place during the term of the project.  In November 2004, an arrest 
involving 10 offenders resulted in the seizure of 31 cakes of heroin 
(roughly 10.85 kilograms of heroin).  The perpetrators confessed to 
having previously trafficked a total of 745 cakes of heroin (roughly 
260 kilograms) to Hanoi for local consumption.  A January 2006 case 
resulted in the arrest of 17 offenders and the seizure of 4.5 
kilograms of heroin and 1,000 ATS tablets, as well as grenades and 
other weapons.  These offenders also confessed to having previously 
trafficked 34 kilos of heroin to neighboring Hoa Binh Province. 
Loan said the TFU had worked on many cases involving 5-6 offenders 
with seizures in the range of 3.5-7 kilograms of heroin.  In January 
2005, Customs officials received a tip about an army driver 
transporting heroin into the province.  Customs passed the 
information to the provincial counternarcotics police and an arrest 
was made netting four kilograms of heroin.  Prior to the project, 
Customs and counternarcotics police had never shared information in 
this way. 
 
TFU Continues to Operate Post-Project Completion 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Since the UNODC project wrapped up in December 2006, the 
police, border guards and customs forces in Son La continue to 
coordinate counternarcotics efforts through the TFU mechanism. 
During the first five months of 2007, the Son La TFU was involved in 
200 cases involving more than 300 offenders, and seizure of 21 
kilograms of heroin, 6 kilograms of opium and 246 ATS tablets.  In 
February, the Border Guards provided information to the TFU that 
 
HANOI 00001133  002 OF 002 
 
 
resulted in the arrest of two traffickers with five kilograms of 
heroin, again an example of information sharing that did not occur 
prior to the TFU, said Loan. 
 
¶8. (SBU) In a separate meeting, UNODC Program Officer Troels Vester 
reported that, despite difficult circumstances, the performance of 
the Son La TFU has been outstanding.  One of the team members of the 
TFU lost two fingers last year when he was shot in the hand by a 
drug trafficker upon arrest.  On a different occasion, the TFU 
encountered personnel mines used for defense by a group of drug 
traffickers.  Given its lengthy, rugged border with Laos, the 
intensity of Son La Province's fight against drug trafficking shows 
no sign of abating. 
 
ALOISI