Four sentenced to death for trafficking heroin

A court in northern Vietnam sentenced four people to death after they were convicted of trafficking heroin, an official said Wednesday.
Nguyen Van Vinh, Cao Thi Hien, Nguyen Quang Tuyen and Ho Viet Truong were convicted of trafficking 85.8 kilograms of heroin and given the death sentence at the end of the three-day trial on Wednesday April 27 in Bac Giang province, 60 kilometres northeast of Hanoi, said presiding judge Nguyen Van Truong.
Two other defendants received life imprisonment and 20 years in jail respectively on the same charges, he said.
The men trafficked the heroin from the northern province of Son La, which borders Laos, to other provinces between September 2003 and their arrest two-months later, he said.
The heroin was from Laos, but authorities were unable to uncover who had smuggled the drug into Vietnam, Truong said.
The convicted have 15 days to appeal their sentences.
In Vietnam, possessing, trading or trafficking 600 grams (1.32 pounds) of heroin or 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of opium are punishable by firing squad.

 

Category: Legal