Chief of Muong Te District Police and the story of 'fighting crimes' at the border

Editor's note:

Currently, nearly 100% of Provincial Police Directors and District Police Chiefs are not local people. This policy contributes to improving capacity and meeting the increasingly high requirements of tasks in protecting national security and ensuring social order and safety. One of the hallmarks of the above policy is that the Police Director is not a local person to resolve pending and complicated cases. VietNamNet newspaper published a series of articles on positive changes in localities when implementing the policy of the Politburo and the Central Public Security Party Committee on personnel arrangement.

In August 2022, Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan - Deputy Head of the Internal Security Department (Lai Chau Provincial Police) was transferred and appointed to the position of Head of Muong Te District Police. The Lieutenant Colonel, originally from Bac Ninh , has worked in internal security in Lai Chau for more than 20 years and said that he has visited all communes in the province, especially key and complicated areas in terms of border security. The knowledge and experience accumulated from vivid practice have helped Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan quickly integrate into the border district with heavy responsibilities. Especially ensuring a stable security situation among ethnic groups and religions.

On the afternoon of late September, returning from a trip to the Mu Ca commune (80km from the headquarters), Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan took the time to share with VietNamNet reporters about the security and order situation in Muong Te district after a year of taking on the task. Throughout the sharing session, Mr. Hoan especially emphasized the guiding role of the Provincial Police Department's Board of Directors and the silent contributions and sacrifices of the collective of officers and soldiers in carrying out tasks in the border district. Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan said that right from the time he received the decision to work in Muong Te, he outlined specific goals during his work in the locality. Notably, for Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan, Muong Te is a new working unit but a familiar area because he had previously worked here for many years, and on some business trips, Mr. Hoan had to stay in the village for a whole month.

 Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan - Chief of Police of Muong Te District, Lai Chau 

“I know most of the comrades in the unit, then the District Party Committee, and the District People's Committee. When I came to work, the district leaders confided that they were very reassured when the Provincial Police mobilized cadres to firmly grasp the Muong Te area,” Lieutenant Colonel Hoan said. The picture of Muong Te district was sketched by Mr. Hoan: The district has the second largest area in the country with many ethnic minorities living together; has more than 130 km of border with China; is a complex area with potential security in ethnic groups, religions and drug crimes... “I have a very clear ideological stance that we must maintain solidarity within the collective, the District Police Command. Especially, we must coordinate in advising the Party Committee and the government on policies and direct the implementation of tasks to ensure political security and social order and safety with the motto of maintaining stability in the border security situation, contributing to promoting socio-economic development,” Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan emphasized. The reason why Colonel Hoan emphasized the issue of ethnic and religious security is because in the past in Muong Te, there were incidents of large gatherings of people, causing complications in security and order.

Muong Te district still has many villages without electricity or phone signal. In the photo is the Lu Kho residential area (Mu Ca commune) with 100% Mong ethnic people living there.

In charge of ensuring security and order in a large area, including 6 border communes, Lieutenant Colonel Hoan said that the District Police Command has increased the grassroots force, proactively stayed close to the people, and contacted the locality to grasp emerging situations and complicated signs of security and order. Right in the first year of taking on the task, Lieutenant Colonel Hoan and the Party Committee and government faced the problem of helping people trust the Party and State's policies in re-establishing administrative boundaries in Ta Tong commune. "Ta Tong is the largest commune in the district, where the Mong people mainly live. Due to the surveying process over many periods, combined with the cultivation of the people of Pa Tet and Nam La villages, there has been encroachment on Huoi Lech commune (Muong Nhe district, Dien Bien), so the authorities of Dien Bien and Lai Chau provinces have developed a plan to resolve land disputes," Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan informed. According to the plan, a part of Ta Tong commune will be dissolved and merged, and its population, facilities, assets, etc. will be transferred to Huoi Lech commune. However, according to Lieutenant Colonel Hoan, the implementation of the above plan has encountered resistance from the people of the two villages. The people have not agreed on the organization of the transfer between the two provincial governments. Therefore, ensuring security at the grassroots level is the top priority.

Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan determined the goal is to ensure stability in the security situation among ethnic groups and religions in Muong Te.

“We propagate and mobilize people to understand the merger policy correctly. We encourage people who have suggestions to dialogue so that the government can thoroughly resolve their concerns,” said Lieutenant Colonel Hoan. With persistent efforts to mobilize and persuade people, Pa Tet village has been successfully handed over. The two provincial governments are taking the next steps for Nam La village. The story in Ta Tong commune is an example of the potential risk of insecurity and disorder in the border district of Muong Te. According to Lieutenant Colonel Hoan, the police force has persistently applied measures to address the core of the problem, without being impatient. Because of the above caution, the report of Muong Te District Police shows that over the past year, the security and order situation in the district has been basically ensured, and issues of ethnic and religious security have been contained. In particular, signs of secessionist and autonomous activities have been detected early and promptly caught through the building of movements. The whole people protect the security of the Fatherland. In addition, the firmly consolidated grassroots political system has created leverage for the successful transformation of key and complicated areas in terms of security and order.

In addition to ensuring border security, according to Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan, the fight against all types of crimes and all aspects of police work are focused on to ensure that people enjoy a peaceful life. With the determination that "drugs are the crime of all types of crimes" - Lieutenant Colonel Hoan said, the unit has synchronously deployed many solutions to destroy drug trafficking, transportation, storage and use rings. In the first 9 months of 2023, units under the district police arrested and prosecuted 107 drug cases. According to the report, there are currently 355 addicts and 724 people illegally using drugs in the district. The district police have compiled records to send them to compulsory drug rehabilitation. Of the more than 100 drug cases that have been destroyed in the past time, Lieutenant Colonel Hoan was most impressed with the project to destroy a ring that trafficked and transported 3 heroin cakes in Thu Lum commune last June. What impressed Colonel Hoan was that the project was successful thanks to the effective support of the masses.

Special projects to destroy drug trafficking and transportation lines were dismantled by Muong Te district police.

“At the beginning of the year, the people of Thu Lum commune informed the police about the unusual behavior of a group of people in the area. The group was often absent from the area to go to Dien Bien province. Every half month, the group followed the border routes to return to the village. When returning, they often had meetings with people on the other side of the border before returning home. During their activities in the village, the subjects spent lavishly even though their families only engaged in agricultural activities,” Lieutenant Colonel Hoan said. From the above manifestations, the authorities raised questions about whether or not the subjects were involved in drug trafficking activities. From here, the district police organized a special project to crack down. A reconnaissance team was sent in to grasp the movements of the subjects. By the end of June 2023, after many days and nights of reconnaissance, deploying professional measures - the task force arrested 2 subjects transporting 3 heroin cakes. During the siege, the subjects fiercely resisted and destroyed the evidence. Successfully breaking the case, preserving the force participating in the investigation - Muong Te District Police were directly encouraged and rewarded by the Provincial Police Director.

In the overall positive results in all aspects of the work of the Muong Te District Police, the sharing of Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan all mentioned the role of the people. “Only when the people trust and support us can we complete our tasks. From issuing 100% of ID cards to people of the right age to solving especially serious cases, we have received the support of the people,” said Mr. Hoan.

Lieutenant Colonel Hoan said that the people play an important role in helping the police force complete its task of ensuring security and order in the area.

Evidence of a murder case that was successfully solved in just… 2 hours - Lieutenant Colonel Hoan said that the information provided by the people helped the arrest to be deployed in the right direction. The murder occurred on the morning of May 17, 2023, due to family conflicts, Luong Van Quan (residing in Bum To commune) murdered Ms. M. (Quan's wife). After committing the crime, Quan gathered some belongings and planned to escape. "The subject stockpiled food and prepared a scenario for the escape," Lieutenant Colonel Hoan said. However, just 2 hours after committing the crime, Muong Te district police coordinated with other units to arrest the suspect. "When he was arrested, Quan's face was shocked, he did not expect the police to find him so quickly," Lieutenant Colonel Hoan said.

The communal police force in Muong Te goes to the grassroots, close to the people.

Quan's testimony showed that he had considered taking a bus and changing his route to escape the police checkpoints. He also considered committing suicide if he could not escape from Muong Te after 24 hours. "The reports from the people about identification and the security camera system provided by the people helped the force to build a portrait and hiding place of the subject," said Mr. Hoan. According to the Chief of Muong Te District Police, building a movement for the entire people to protect national security is one of the key tasks, because "no matter how large the police force is, it is not as good as the eyes and ears of the people." To listen to the people more, Lieutenant Colonel Hoan made public his personal phone number and connected to social networks for people to provide information.

Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan shared with VietNamNet reporter.

“There were calls at midnight from people reporting on urgent matters. With the police force at the grassroots level, we quickly got involved to verify and in practice, many cases have been thoroughly resolved from people's reports. This is especially important in building trust among the people,” emphasized Lieutenant Colonel Lu Van Hoan. It is known that not only Muong Te district, but currently all districts of Lai Chau province, the district police chiefs are not local people. The arrangement of non-local police chiefs has been deployed by Lai Chau Provincial Police to the commune level. For example, in Muong Te district, 100% of commune police chiefs are not local people.

Author: Doan Bong
Photo: Le Anh Dung
Design: Hong Anh
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