Vietnam sentences three Laotian drug mules to death

A court in central Vietnam handed out death penalties to three Laotian men for transporting heroin and other narcotics.

The three men, 25, 27 and 31 years of age, were sentenced for the illegal transportation of narcotics.

According to the verdict, on Oct. 4, 2019, border guards in Ha Tinh Province in collaboration with other task forces caught one of them driving a car carrying 45 kilos of methamphetamine, six kilos of synthetic drugs and 30 packs of heroin weighing around 350 grams each along National Highway 8A in Son Kim 1 Commune of Huong Son District.

He had collected the drugs from a street-side bush near Cau Treo International Border Gate in Huong Son, Ha Tinh.

Less than an hour later, the task force caught the other two men traveling together in another car.

Upon arrest, the three said another Laotian has hired them to deliver the drugs to a business partner in Ha Tinh Province for $2,000 each.

Vietnam is a major transit hub for drugs trafficked from the Golden Triangle, an area at the intersection of Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and southwestern China.

From Vietnam, the drugs are taken to Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and even Europe, Australia and Latin America.

The nation has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or over 2.5 kilograms of meth face death.

By Duc Hung – VnExpress.net – August 17, 2021