LAOS

Authorities in Laos are increasing cooperation with their counterparts in neighbouring Vietnam and deploying additional security forces along the border amid an uptick in cross-border crime, Radio Free Asia reports. An official from the Anti-Narcotics Unit of Xam Tai district, in northeastern Houaphanh province along the border with Vietnam, said the two countries were collaborating to battle drug trafficking — a major factor driving the increase in transnational crime. The official said the number of methamphetamine and heroin seizures along the border had jumped significantly in the past three years, without providing specific details. Vietnam has last Wednesday sentenced nine drug traffickers to death for smuggling half a tonne of heroin into the country from Laos.