VIETNAM: 5 DRUG TRAFFICKERS SENTENCED TO DEATH

Five members of a transnational drug trafficking ring, including the 41-year-old Lao ringleader and four Vietnamese accomplices, were sentenced to death for smuggling 148 cakes of heroin, Vietnam News Agency reported on 14 November 2019.
The People's Court in Vietnam's northern Quang Ninh province on 13 November handed down the death penalties to the five defendants. Four other members of the ring were sentenced to life imprisonment, while four others got 20-year jail term each.
According to the indictment, on 16 June 2018, police of Quang Ninh province detained a 43-year-old Vietnamese man transporting 72 heroin cakes hidden in a fridge. After further investigations, the provincial police arrested 12 other individuals, who allegedly transported a total of 148 cakes of heroin from Laos to Vietnam for sales.