Vietnamese Women Get Entrapped By Drug Syndicate At Crown Casino

Melbourne’s Crown Casino is one of Australia’s biggest casinos and is known for hosting a number of premier tournaments including the Aussie Millions. Recent reports suggest that the drug syndicate are now using the Crown Casino as a hunting and recruiting ground for drug mules.

The drug syndicate have focused their attention on women, most notably from Vietnam. Their modus-operandi enlists the help of Vietnamese gamblers who then introduce themselves to the women and befriend them. These gamblers offer loans on behalf of the syndicate to these Vietnamese women and encourage them to gamble at the Crown Casino.

It does not take long for these women to accumulate huge amounts of debt and many find themselves owing the syndicate thousands of dollars. Since they are unable to pay back their loans, they are now obligated to make payment either by being a drug mule and smuggling in heroin or by being a caretaker and watching over houses that grown marijuana.

A number of these women have been arrested and prosecuted by the Australian authorities and their stories are very similar. Swinburne University conducted a study on the number of Vietnamese women who have been jailed for drug offences and found that one out of every five women arrested is Vietnamese. Back in 2011, one out of every 20 women arrested was Vietnamese.

Victorian Police have also noticed a dramatic rise in the distribution of marijuana and have discovered that there were hundreds of ‘crop houses’ within Victoria that were being used as a cultivation center. The authorities recently conducted a sting termed Operation Taxa and raided a number of these ‘crop houses’.

The authorities found that the vast majority of these ‘crop houses’ were either owned or looked after by individuals of Vietnamese descent. The authorities believe that Vietnamese crime families are behind this strategic plan and unless they are stopped, Vietnamese women will continue to get exploited.

A Vietnamese lady by the name of Nhu went to prison after accumulating a debt of $35,000 at the Crown Casino. She tried to pay off her debt by running drugs for the syndicate but got arrested and served time in prison. In a statement, Nhu said

I really respect and abide by the laws here. I’ve tried to avoid everything in the past but I just couldn’t avoid gambling.

Melbourne’s Crown Casino has banned a number of Vietnamese women from their premises but refused to make any comment relating to the drug syndicate operating at their premises.