200 test positive for narcotics after Dong Nai bar raid

Police detained around 300 people after raiding the club in the southern province and took them to the police station in the early hours of Sunday.

When the police entered, hundreds of people who were dancing threw drugs on the floor and tried to escape, but the exit doors were blocked by the police. The police seized many small plastic bags containing pills and powders. Nearly 200 of those taken the police station tested positive for banned substances.

Police said this was the biggest such bust in the province in the last two years. The club owner has been summoned for questioning.

ST Club is one of the biggest nightclubs in Dong Nai Province, which borders HCMC. This is not the first time that it has been found entertaining people abusing drugs.

Vietnam had more than 222,000 drug addicts as of the end of 2017, with an increasing number of them, especually young partygoers, using synthetic drugs like methamphetamine, ecstasy and ketamine, according to the police.

Drug use is strictly prohibited in the country and users would be fined to taken to rehab centers. Producing or trading drugs are criminal offense that can face death penalty.

Vietnam is a key trafficking hub for narcotics from the Golden Triangle, an intersection of China, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar that is the world's second largest drug producing area after the Golden Crescent in South Asia.