The People’s Court of Hanoi on Wednesday sentenced to prison five members of a group for illegally selling arms.

Following nearly one week of trial, Nguyen Van Cuong, 47, and Nguyen Thai Viet, 59, were both sentenced to eight years in prison while Lý Mạnh Lực, 50, from northern Bac Giang Province, was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Nguyen Dinh Hoc, 69, and Dong Van Bay, 49, received prison terms of six and 15 years.

The five were accused of illegally making, storing, transporting, using and trading weapons and explosive materials.

According to the court’s indictment, in December 2014, the police caught Luc and Cuong carrying three guns and 81 bullets.

The police also seized two grenades, dozens of bullets of all kinds, a cartridge clip and a bag of homemade lead shot from their houses.

Hundreds of bullets, dozens of kilos of explosives, detonators and guns were also found in the other defendants’ houses, police said.

At the investigation office, Luc confessed he and the other members of the group had begun trading guns, bullets and explosives since the end of 2013. 

VNS