Four get death for drug trafficking in northern Vietnam

By Phan Anh June 2, 2020 | 07:08 pm PT

Four men at the Cao Bang People's Court in Cao Bang Province are sentenced to death on June 2, 2020 for heroin trafficking. Photo courtesy of the Cao Bang Newspaper.

A court in the northern Cao Bang Province sentenced four people to death on Tuesday for trafficking 20.4 kg of heroin.

Ma Van Thoi, 35, Mac Chieu Hai, 30, Vang A Sai, 25, and Vu A Cong, 20, had trafficked the drugs last October from Dien Bien Province to Cao Bang en route to China. Dien Bien borders both Laos and China while Cao Bang borders China.

The police caught them with 62 packs of 330 grams each of heroin, the Cao Bang People’s Court heard.

Vietnam is a key trafficking hub for drugs from the Golden Triangle, an intersection of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar and the world's second largest drug producing area after the Golden Crescent in South Asia.

Vietnam has some of the harshest punishments for drug trafficking, including death for possessing or smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine and producing or selling 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics.

But this does not seem to have had a deterrent effect, with drug trafficking apparently increasing in recent years.