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Vietnamese drug ring tried for smuggling half a ton of heroin

By Xuan Hoa February 27, 2017 | 08:07 pm PT

The ring is believed to have handled 1,415 packs (480 kilograms) between 2012-2015 on the Laos-Vietnam-China route.

A total of 23 people faced the court in northern Vietnam Monday for allegedly trafficking more than 1,400 packs of heroin weighing nearly half a ton between Laos, Vietnam and China, a provincial newspaper reported.

The trial of Tran Duc Duy, 31, and another 22 people in his trafficking ring began in the northern province of Hoa Binh, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) southwest of Hanoi, the Hoa Binh newspaper said. The defendants were also accused of illegal possession of military weapons and harboring criminals.

Duy was arrested in January 2015 in the province while driving a truck carrying 94 packs of heroin, or nearly 33 kilograms (72.7 pounds) of heroin, investigators have said. He was taken into custody following a shootout.

Further investigations brought in another 22 people in the ring led by Duy, who transported a total of 1,415 heroin packs from Laos to China via Vietnam’s northern provinces between 2012 and 2015, the newspaper cited investors' report as saying.

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Material evidences seized from the heroin ring.

The police confiscated 480 kilograms of heroin packs in total. The trial is scheduled to last 20 days.

Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine 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.

> Police nab two heroin smugglers in northern Vietnam