While heroin and cocaine arrests hog most of the headlines for drug-related crime in Vietnam, every now and then, marijuana busts make their way into the press.

One such arrest occurred last week in the central province of Ha Tinh where a good ole’ fashioned police chase and near gunfight broke out after a traffic stop went awry.  

According to Thanh Nien, last Wednesday, police pulled over a red Audi sports car to check the papers of 42-year-old Le Manh Hung.

After showing signs of panic, police asked Hung to open his trunk where officers found 11 kilos of marijuana bound in plastic wrap.

Probably seeing the writing on the wall, Hung started his car and hit an officer before starting on a 10km chase that ended after he drew a gun and began to threaten officers. 

Prior to this incident, the last marijuana crackdown we heard about was all the way back in last June when a local man was caught growing plants, some as high as 2.4 meters, in a Thu Duc graveyard.

According to the newspaper, “Trafficking marijuana is punishable by long jail terms and even death penalties in Vietnam.”