VIETNAM: 8 PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

A court in Ho Chi Minh City has sentenced eight people to death for drug trafficking, a court official said on 8 October 2019.
Eight members of a trafficking ring, aged between 38 and 65 and led by drug lord Phan Huu Hieu, were given death sentences on 7 October after a week-long trial found them guilty of transporting 132kg of heroin and 55kg of methamphetamines, Viet Nam News reported, quoting the court.
One gang member was spared death and instead sentenced to life in prison.
"Most of the defendants sincerely admitted their crime and asked for leniency," secretary of the court Luu Quoc Khanh told DPA.
The case first came to light in July 2018 after police carried out a crackdown and arrested nine people involved in the gang, which had been trafficking drugs from Laos to Danang in Central Vietnam, before selling the narcotics to other regions via an extensive network.