Ho Chi Minh City: three drug traffickers sentenced to death

The sentence was handed down after a swift trial in the south of the country. The defendants were found in possession of 50 kg of heroin and methamphetamine. Vietnam has some of the strictest anti-drug laws in the world, while trafficking is on the rise due to infrastructure and transport developments in the “Golden Triangle” region.

Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews/Agencies) - A court in the southern province of Long An has sentenced three people to death for drug trafficking after finding them guilty of importing and distributing over 50 kg of heroin and synthetic substances. A fourth defendant involved in the same case was sentenced to life imprisonment. This was reported yesterday by the website VNExpress, confirming that the trial took place in a single day.

The leader of the group, Pham Trung Hieu, 35, and his accomplices allegedly transported the drugs from Cambodia to Vietnam with the aim of distributing them to dealers operating in Ho Chi Minh City and the surrounding provinces.

Part of the network was uncovered in April 2023, when police intercepted a shipment during an operation. During the escape, the defendants' car ran over an officer and two civilians. Vietnamese law provides for the death penalty for anyone found in possession of more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine.

The Communist Party of Vietnam, the country's only political party, maintains some of the world's strictest anti-drug laws, and courts regularly hand down death sentences for drug-related offences.

Another case had already caused an uproar last year when a Vietnamese court sentenced 27 people to death for trafficking 626 kg of drugs, also from Cambodia.

The country is geographically close to the so-called “Golden Triangle”, the area comprising Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, which has been known for decades for drug production and trafficking. Vietnamese authorities claim that Ho Chi Minh City is becoming a strategic hub for international drug trafficking networks, thanks in part to improved infrastructure and transport facilities that facilitate operations.