Vietnam

Two welders suspected in deadly fire surrender

Two welders admitted accidentally starting an inferno in Ho Chi Minh City that killed at least 61 people, police said today.

Phan Viet Thanh, 19, and Nguyen Phu Tin, 32, surrendered to police Thursday, said a city police officer who gave his name only as Thanh. Police still were investigating whether a third welder who was working with them was in hiding or had died in the blaze.

The 19-year-old welder, Thanh, told police that the flame from a welding torch accidentally set fire to plastic decoration sheets on the ceiling of a disco in the six-story building where they worked, the officer said.

The welder told police that they unsuccessfully tried to put out the fire then fled the scene.

The fire that raged destroyed the Saigon International Trade Center on Tuesday. Two Britons, a Croatian and an American of Vietnamese descent were the only foreign fatalities.

At least 22 of the dead were staff or agents of the American International Assurance Co., the building’s largest tenant, and more than five other staffers remained missing, the company has said.

The fire was the city’s worst in terms of loss of life and property damage.

Chicago

Suspected kingpin nabbed with 18 others in heroin bust

The suspected kingpin of a heroin ring with tentacles reaching from South America to Chicago, New York and Miami has been arrested with 18 of his followers, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

James Valencia, 36, a U.S. citizen who has been living in Colombia, was among 25 people charged in a criminal complaint filed as part of an 11-month U.S. Customs Service investigation called Operation Smackdown.

Six people were still being sought on charges of conspiracy to distribute heroin. Valencia and five others also were charged with money laundering.

Eighteen of those in custody, including Valencia, were arrested Wednesday in Chicago. Valencia had come to Chicago to meet with couriers and Chicago-based distributors, federal officials said.

U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald told a news conference it was “rare that law enforcement has the opportunity to arrest the alleged overseas leader of a drug distribution empire in this country.”

Valencia’s defense attorney could not be reached for comment.