Two get death, four sentenced to life in Hanoi for drug trafficking

Do Phuong Tay, 52, and Bui Huy Hoang, 35, received death sentences and Le Anh Tuan, 29, Trinh Thi Mai Lan, 40, Nguyen Thi Dinh, 41, and Le Hai Long, 33, got life.

Tay, the leader of a drug trafficking ring, met Lan in May last year and she persuaded Dinh to find someone in Hanoi to buy drugs from Tay.

Dinh found a person named Huong, who agreed to buy methamphetamine from him at VND320 million ($13,780) per kilogram.

Dinh then called Tay and Lan, then living in the central Thanh Hoa Province, and asked for two kilograms of meth for VND500 million ($21,530).

Tay told Hoang to take VND480 million ($20,675) to an unidentified person in Thanh Hoa in exchange for four kilograms of meth and 3,000 amphetamine pills.

Tay drove Hoang and Tuan and over four kilograms of drugs to Hanoi on June 12 last year to deliver them.

While Tay and Hoang stayed in a hotel, Tuan took 1.7 kg to deliver to Long, but they were caught by the police.

Tay and Hoang were responsible for trading over 3.9 kilograms of drugs, and the other four for the 1.7 kg Tuan took to Long, authorities said.

In Vietnam, drug users are fined and sent to rehabilitation centers while those who produce or distribute drugs can face death.

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