A Vietnamese woman was nabbed by police in her home country for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs into South Korea, a Vietnamese media outlet said.

The VN Express reported Saturday that Le Thi Loan, a 29-year-old Vietnamese national married to a Korean man, was caught Wednesday for allegedly attempting to traffic narcotics to Seoul.

On Oct. 12, Vietnamese police seized another Vietnamese woman with 140 grams of ecstasy and 18 grams of ketamine pills hidden inside a teddy bear at the Cat Bi International Airport in Hai Phong district, the report said. The woman told police she had unknowingly carried the drugs at the request of Loan, who had contacted the woman and asked her to carry several items, including the teddy bear.

The Vietnamese authorities tracked down Loan and arrested her four days later, the report said.

A Vietnamese police investigation discovered that Loan had been sneaking illegal drugs to Korea in cooperation with other Vietnamese nationals living in Korea.

Loan and the other suspects reportedly hid the drugs in stuffed animals, toys and souvenirs, which were brought into Seoul from Vietnam by individuals, who the suspects contacted via social media, or Loan herself during her frequent trips to her home country.

An Interpol official told The Korea Herald that they were unaware of Loan’s arrest.


By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)