Five sentenced to death in Vietnam drugs trial
HANOI - A court in southern Vietnam has
sentenced three Cambodians and two Vietnamese to death for
trafficking heroin into the country, official media reported on
Friday.
The Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper said the Ho Chi
Minh City People's Court sentenced the remaining eight
defendants in the trial to a range of jail terms.
On Thursday official media had said prosecutors were seeking
four death penalties.
The Cambodians were named as Chuan Oi, Seng Bun Si and
Tran The Trung, and the Vietnamese as Quach Kim Thuan and
Nguyen Hong Minh Thanh.
Thanh Nien gave no timeframe for the trafficking but other state
media has said the heroin was brought in for sale locally to
customers including Taiwan tourists.
Details on the quantity of heroin seized were not available and
court officials could not be reached for comment.
Vietnam has been identified by anti-drug agencies as an
increasingly important post in the heroin trafficking route from the
infamous Golden Triangle region centred on Myanmar, Laos and
parts of southwestern China and northern Thailand.
The communist-ruled country last year sentenced 49 people to
death and arrested 18,000 for drug-related crimes. Comparative
figures were not immediately available.
Reuters - November 4, 1999.
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