The two men were traveling in a vehicle with a Laos license plate when the police stopped them. Tran Xuan Thanh, 30, and Vo Quoc Duong, 41, said they’d bought the drugs in Laos and were looking to sell them in Vietnam.
Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is punishable by death.
Those founding possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine can also get the death penalty.
Vietnam is a key trafficking hub for narcotics around the Golden Triangle, an intersection of China, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar and the world's second largest drug producing region.