VietNamNet Bridge – Around 500 policemen equipped with weapons and wearing armour raided New Century, one of the biggest discotheques in Hanoi, at 1am, April 28, temporarily arresting nearly 1,200 people.

Of those people, mainly aged between 18 and 25, there were around 460 girls. The owner of the discotheque has been detained.

Policemen founded over 200 packs of drugs of various kinds and many used condoms in the discotheque. They immediately conducted drug tests on arrested people. According to initial results, around 150 samples tested positive.

The search of the discotheque ended at around 6.30am. This is the biggest raid so far made by the Ministry of Public Security in Hanoi.

At 2.30pm on the same day, police released most of the arrested people, detaining only owner Nguyen Dai Duong and around 20 others who were found with narcotics to serve investigation.

The raid on New Century is part of a big plan to destroy drug-related sites that has been implemented by the Ministry of Public Security for several months. The General Department of Police mobilised policemen from various departments to participate in this big raid. Notably, Hanoi Police didn’t know anything about it.

On April 30, police initiated the investigation of the illegal storing and use of drugs at New Century. According to investigators, the discotheque is a market for some drug trading rings. They are also investigating to discover whether New Century is a destination of high-class prostitutes since they found many used condoms on the floor of the discotheque.

Two weeks before the raid, cultural inspectors made an inspection of New Century. The discotheque’s representative admitted that the club’s licence had expired and asked for an extension. “Apart from the violation related to the licence, inspectors didn’t discover any other violation,” said Tran Van Tung, chief inspector of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Information.

According to Mr Tung, cultural inspectors inspected this discotheque ten times from 2000 to 2002 and fined its owners for various violations. However, he admitted that since 2003 the cultural inspection agency had not regularly inspected New Century. Mr Tung said that compared to other discotheques, New Century better obeyed the rules on cultural activities and performance organisation.

Before the sudden raid, this discotheque had been praised by local authorities, Hoan Kiem District, as having recorded achievements in maintaining security. New Century’s guards had been commended for having discovered some customers with drugs. According to Pham Duc Thang, Director of the Thang Long Flamboyant Company, the owner of this discotheque, the company has received over 50 certificates of merit for drug-related crime prevention.

According to investigators, the discotheque often operated till 1-2am, violating the rules on operation time of entertainment sites, and was a place for drugs and prostitution though it is only 500m from the office of Hoan Kiem District’s police.

Leaders of the Hanoi Police Agency have instructed related bodies to immediately report about the New Century case. Lieutenant Le The Tiem, Deputy Minister of Public Security, said that investigators needed more time to determine whether or not the discotheque was under the protection of officials.

Major-general Nguyen Duc Nhanh, Director of Hanoi Police Agency, refused to explain why Hanoi police hadn’t broken the case, but let the Ministry of Public Security do so. Colonel Nguyen Anh Tuan, Vice chief of the Drug-related Crime Investigation Police Agency, said that perhaps Hanoi police wanted to do so but were unable.

Vice Chairwoman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Ngo Thi Thanh Hang on May 2 also asked the director of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Information and this agency’s chief inspector to consider their responsibility in the New Century case as they let the discotheque continue to operate though its licence expired on March 28, 2007.

Hanoi leaders also instructed the Director of the city’s police forces, the Chairman and Sheriff of Hoan Kiem District and Hang Trong Ward, where the discotheque is located, to review and punish agencies and individuals related to violations at this discotheque and report to the People’s Committee before May 7.

(Source: VNE, Tien phong, SGGP)