191 Drug Addicts Escape from De-Addiction Centre in Vietnam

Around 191 drug addicts escaped from an overcrowded state-owned rehabilitation centre in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Out of them over 90 have been nabbed, while search is on to capture the rest 100, Vietnam’s state media said Monday.

Around 30,000 drug addicts are undergoing compulsory treatment at government facilities in Vietnam. As per the law, they are to spend up to two years inside these de-addiction centres.

Following an “internal dispute” on Saturday night, 191 addicts broke out of a rehab centre in the southern city of Soc Trang. By Monday morning, 94 had been found and brought back. Nearly 100 others are still on the run.

The addicts reportedly broke down the doors of their dormitory and escaped by jumping over the building’s iron fences. Some detainees fled through a tunnel they had dug in one of the facility’s walls.

The fugitives attacked and injured several security guards. Only 60 guards were in charge of the more than 460 drug addicts, mostly men.

Around 200 drug users escaped in 2018 from a rehab centre in the southern province of Tien Giang in Vietnam.