Ten members of a drug ring in Tay Ninh stand trial on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo

A 42-year-old Cambodian man, Choun PhiRin, and 38-year-old Vietnamese man, Huynh Van Lam, stood trial held by the Tay Ninh People’s Court in southern Vietnam for having smuggled more than 12.5kg of various types of narcotics via the Cambodia-Vietnam border.

Lam was arrested by Moc Bai border guards on October 20, 2018 after two bags of methamphetamine were found hidden under his motorbike saddle.

Following Lam’s testimony, the border guards carried out a raid at Choun PhiRin’s house in Tay Ninh’s An Quoi hamlet, seizing more than 8.5kg of different types of narcotics. The Cambodian national was also arrested during the raid.

The border province of Tay Ninh opened another trial on Thursday against a 10-member drug ring that smuggled drugs from Cambodia into Vietnam.

The ring leader Phung Hong Huy, 42, and two of his subordinates, Pham Hong Thai, 26, and a Cambodian national Lim SoThea, 35, were found guilty of trading drugs and using military weapons and thus were sentenced to death.

The jury sentenced another five including Buy BunLy, 52, Ngo Quoc Anh and Le Quoc Trung, both 28, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Thuy, 25, and Trieu Quang Khanh, 20, to life in prison for the same offence.
Nguyen Thai Son, 31 and Nguyen Hoang Sang, 26, received 20-year jail terms for trading drugs.

Police first discovered the ring on March 22, 2018 when Lim SoThea and Buy BunLy were arrested while carrying two backpacks containing 4.86kg of narcotics and a Makarov K59 pistol, a magazine and six bullets.

An investigation later nabbed the rest of the ring, following house raids seizing more than 8.7kg of various types of narcotics.

The border province of Hoa Binh in the north of the country also held a trial against three men named Tran Quang Suat, 66, Lu A Cha, 26 and Mua A Ho, 25, for illegally dealing of drugs on Thursday.

The jury found them guilty of trading two packages of heroin and possessing different kinds of narcotics including synthetic drugs, crystal meth and opium.

Suat and Cha received life sentences while Ho was handed a 20-year jail term.

Vietnam is one of the countries with the strictest penalties against drugs trafficking, with those found with more than 100 grams of heroin or cocaine facing the death penalty. - VNS

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