Public Buying and Selling
Posing as a customer in need of cyanide, a reporter from Tien Phong visited Cho Kim Bien in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City – a famous chemical market. However, after approaching almost a dozen stalls, most traders shook their heads and waved their hands upon hearing the request. “What is cyanide?” asked one staff member, denying they had such a product. “We only sell wholesale and don’t have cyanide,” said an employee from another shop.
Customers can easily purchase cyanide online. Image: U.P.
After some inquiries, we visited stall A. to ask about buying cyanide, but we had to use terms like “American-signed plating powder,” “gold plating powder,” or “gold salt.” With a scrutinizing look, the staff asked us to wait while they consulted the owner. After a while, they returned and said, “We haven’t dealt with this product for a long time.” According to this person, their store used to sell cyanide, but only in wholesale quantities to regular customers for industrial use. “The sale of chemicals in Cho Kim Bien is now more tightly controlled than in the past, so we can’t sell whatever we want,” they added.
Meanwhile, there are numerous groups on social media openly specializing in the trade of chemicals, with a large number of members. Simply searching for “chemical market” yields groups like “Chemical Exchange – Buying and Selling – Consulting,” “Wholesale Chemical Market,” “Saigon Chemicals,” and “Industrial Chemical Buyers Association,” each with thousands of members.
In the “Chemical Association” group with nearly 50,000 members, a user named L.T posted about wanting to buy cyanide and immediately received numerous offers from sellers who had just imported large quantities, inviting L.T to inbox them. Some even provided images of compressed and powdered cyanide for sale.
We contacted a seller named N.T. to inquire about buying cyanide. Without asking about the purpose of our purchase, N.T. informed us that they had stock available in Ho Chi Minh City, selling for 500,000 VND/kg at retail, and they could supply large quantities. “We guarantee the quality of our products, which come from sources in China, the US, and Germany,” the seller said, adding that if we agreed to buy, we could provide our address and receive the delivery at our location.
The website V. offers German-made potassium cyanide powder priced from 969,000 to 1,192,000 VND/kg and provides a hotline for customers to contact. According to the website, potassium cyanide is mainly used in gold and silver plating and some alloys. It is a pure chemical used in the labs of research institutes, factories, and schools. The site also warns that potassium cyanide is one of the world’s most lethal toxins, capable of causing death at very low doses. A healthy person will lose consciousness within 30 seconds to 2 minutes of ingesting 200-250mg of this substance and will die within 3 hours. Below the product description, several people inquire about purchasing it for plating, experiments, etc.
Oversight Loophole?
According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Van Cuong, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide appear as white powders to the naked eye and have a bitter almond-like odor. Cyanide and its compounds are used in pesticides, disinfectants, plastics, electroplating, and gold and silver mining. “Cyanide poisoning is a significant threat to humans because it is highly toxic and lethal. Especially, cyanide ingestion is the most significant threat compared to other exposure routes,” Associate Professor Dr. Cuong said.
Traders at Cho Kim Bien (District 5) shook their heads when asked about buying cyanide. Image: Nhan Le.
According to the expert, there are no symptoms after consuming a small amount of cyanide. Low-dose exposures typically cause mild headaches, dizziness, confusion, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. However, high doses of cyanide can cause immediate difficulty breathing, respiratory failure, apnea, low blood pressure, arrhythmias, coma, and seizures. These effects can lead to irreversible damage and death within minutes of symptom onset.
On July 10, Lawyer Nguyen Van Hau, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, told Tien Phong that the production, transportation, and trade of chemicals are strictly regulated by the Law on Chemicals 2007 , amended and supplemented in 2018, and its implementing decrees and circulars.
Accordingly, individuals and organizations intending to produce and trade chemicals must meet specific criteria regarding physical infrastructure, technical expertise, and production and trading conditions for each type of chemical. They must also obtain a certificate or license for chemical production and trading issued by a competent authority.
Failure to meet any of these criteria can result in fines ranging from 50 to 100 million VND. If an individual or organization produces, transports, or trades chemicals on the list of prohibited chemicals, they will face criminal charges and imprisonment of 10 to 15 years.
Lawyer Hau attributed the rampant chemical trade to insufficient control over buying and selling practices. Traders can easily hide their products in other warehouses, only bringing them out when a customer orders in advance or taking the customer directly to the warehouse for the transaction. This makes it challenging for authorities to inspect, monitor, and supervise these areas. Regarding online sales, buyers only need to place an order, and the product will be delivered to their location. The accounts posting these offers are often secondary accounts, making it difficult for authorities to verify and take action against the individuals involved.
“The reason these trading activities continue is the existing demand from the people. Therefore, the top priority should be given to raising public awareness about the harmful effects of these chemicals. When there is no demand, the supply will also gradually disappear,” Mr. Hau said.
