HO CHI MINH CITY, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese police have recently detained a French man of Vietnamese origin and his accomplice, and seized 1 kg of methamphetamine and 85,000 pills of the synthetic drug they produced in Ho Chi Minh City, the municipal police said Monday.

Police arrested the 36-year-old French citizen named Didonna Quoc Anh Phillip and his 28-year-old local accomplice called Vu An. The duo rented an apartment in the city to produce some 20,000 pills of methamphetamine each night.

On Sunday, relevant agencies of central Quang Tri province detained two Vietnamese young people aged 17 and 22 when they were transporting 4,234 pills of methamphetamine from Laos to Vietnam, the Quang Tri authorities said on Monday.

According to statistics from the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security, relevant agencies busted nearly 13,700 drug-related cases, detained roughly 20,000 suspects, and confiscated over 940 kg of heroin, nearly 800,000 pills of synthetic drugs, 1,500 kg of marijuana, and more than 40 kg of opium in the first half of this year.

According to the Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty. Enditem