Hanoi  - Vietnamese police on Monday reported an 8.5-per-cent rise in the number of drug cases in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year.

"In the first half of this year, both the number of heroin-smuggling cases and culprits arrested have increased," said Colonel Nguyen Duc Thinh, deputy director of the National Police Department for Prevention and Anti-Drug Crimes.

The state-run Vietnam News on Monday quoted statistics from Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security as saying police across the country have initiated 6,470 cases of heroin smuggling so far this year, an increase of 8.5 per cent. More than 9,200 suspects have been arrested, included 60 foreigners, an increase by 8.9 per cent, according to the statistics.

Nearly 100 kilograms of heroin, 20 kilograms of opium, 332 kilograms of cannabis and nearly 500,000 ecstasy tablets have been confiscated, police said.

Last week, Vietnamese police arrested eight people from Nigeria and Zimbabwe accused of running a heroin-smuggling ring transporting the drug from Vietnam to China.(dpa)