HANOI: A court in southern Vietnam has sentenced three drug traffickers to death for smuggling and selling more than 50 kilos of heroin and synthetic drugs, state media reported Wednesday (June 18).
Communist Vietnam has some of the toughest drug laws in the world with courts routinely handing out death sentences for drug convictions.
After the one-day trial in Long An province, 35-year-old gang leader Pham Trung Hieu and his three accomplices were found guilty of trafficking.
Three were given the death penalty while one was jailed for life, VNExpress news site reported.
The three men and women had trafficked the drugs from Cambodia to distribute to retailers in Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring provinces.
The ring was discovered transporting some of the drugs in April 2023. Trying to escape a police raid, their car hit a police official and two local residents.
