VIETNAM. FIVE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR SMUGGLING DRUGS INTO VIETNAM

a court in Hanoi sentenced five people to death and four others to life imprisonment for trafficking 24 kg of heroin into Vietnam from Laos. Two former policemen, Vang A Vang, 23, and Vang A Pao, 31, were among those sentenced to death by the Hanoi People's Court. The ringleader, Truong Thi Chung, had her death sentence commuted to life imprisonment as she had a child under three years old. The gang had smuggled the heroin from Laos via Son La and Hoa Binh provinces and from Hanoi to the northern border province of Lang Son. Three other members of the gang were still on the run.