Two get death in Hanoi for trafficking 11 kg of drugs

Nguyen Van Thanh, 38, Nguyen Huu Huy, 45, and Nguyen Thi Tham, 36, who escaped death because she has a young child, were arrested in May last year.

The police found that Thanh had given Tham and Huy a bag containing two kilograms of drugs at a café in Hoang Mai District. They found another six kilograms in the three people’s houses and Thanh’s car.

Thanh said Tham and Huy had offered to buy drugs from him, and since March last year their transactions added up to 11.4 kg of drugs, the Hanoi 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 largest drug producing area after the Golden Crescent in South Asia.

The country has harsh penalties for drug trafficking, including death for those convicted of possessing or trafficking 600 grams of heroin or 2.5 kg of methamphetamine and to those producing or selling 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other drugs.

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