VietNamNet Bridge – Northern Quang Ninh Province's People's Court handed down 30 death penalties to members of a heroin ring for drug trafficking and smuggling on January 20.

The 30 Vietnamese men and women were found guilty of trafficking more than 5,000 cakes of heroin and thousands of drug tablets from Laos to Viet Nam and China.

This is the largest number of defendants sentenced to death in one trial in Vietnamese court history.

The 30 Vietnamese men and women were found guilty of trafficking more than 5,000 cakes of heroin and thousands of drug tablets from Laos to Viet Nam and China.

Under Vietnamese law, anyone found trafficking or possessing more than 600 grams of heroin faces the death penalty.

Sentences ranging up to life in prison for faking documents, illegal trading, bribery and illegal possession of weapons were handed down to 59 other defendants involved in the ring.

The convicted belonged to four transnational smuggling rings that brought heroin and other drugs into Viet Nam and China from neighbouring Laos since 2006, according to the indictment by the provincial People's Procuracy.

The leaders of the four rings all received death sentences. They were Nguyen Hung Dung, 35, Song A Lau, 37, from northern mountainous Son La Province, Nguyen Thanh Tuan, 32, from Ha Noi, Nguyen Duy Thang, 30, from Son La Province, Nguyen Thi Hue, 40, from Lang Son Province and Sa Van Cau, 40, from Son La Province, who remains at large and is suspected to be hiding in Laos.

Source: VNS