Vu Thi Thu Hoai, 47, Vu Thi Hai Yen, 24, and Le Trung Thanh, 40, received the death sentences for illegally trafficking drugs, heard the Hanoi People’s Court. Pham Thi Hop, 42, received a life sentence on the same charge instead as she was raising a small child, media reports said.
Yen and Hoai were busted trafficking drugs at the Noi Bai International Airport in June 2017. Police found over 2.6 kilograms of drugs in pill and crystal forms with them, hidden in bags and empty dragonfruits.
Hop and Thanh were busted when the duo was delivering drugs from Cambodia to Vietnam through the Moc Bai border post in the southern province of Tay Ninh in November 2017. An investigation revealed that Hop also bought 1,300 drug pills and about 500 grams of meth from an unknown person, before hiring Yen to deliver 800 pills and about five grams of said drugs to a man named Tuan, whose identity is unknown, in April 2017.
Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or cocaine or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine could face the death penalty.
The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death.