PHU THO — Police from northern Phu Tho Province have prosecuted 15 suspects for smuggling tobacco from China last year.

Local police, in co-operation with northern Lao Cai Province, traced and stopped a coach carrying 18 tonnes of tobacco from unknown origins last May. Further investigation uncovered a tobacco smuggling ring from China to Lao Cai.

The suspects admitted that they smuggled the goods into Viet Nam and then brought the tobacco to tobacco-growing provinces to obtain origin certificates. -VNS