A northern Vietnamese court has sentenced nine people to death for trafficking nearly half a ton of heroin following a 23-day trial, an official said Wednesday.
The defendants not sentenced to death in the Hoa Binh province courtroom Tuesday included nine sentenced to life, four sentenced to between 17 and 20 years and one sentenced to 18 months, court spokeswoman court Nguyen Thi Quyen said.
Ringleader Tran Duc Duy, 33, was arrested in 2015 while driving a truck containing 33 kilograms of heroin, the Vnexpress online
newspaper reported.
An investigation ensued, leading police to 22 other co-conspirators accused of trafficking nearly half a ton of heroin between Laos, Vietnam and China worth 700,000 dollars.
The group was also convicted of illegal possession of military weapons.
Vietnam regularly hands down death sentences. Under local law, selling or manufacturing 100 grams of heroin mandates the death penalty.
