Vietnam sentences Malaysian ecstasy smuggler to life
HANOI - A Vietnamese court sentenced a Malaysian man
to life in prison after he was found guilty of smuggling nearly 5,000
ecstasy pills into the communist-ruled country, official media reported on Saturday.
The Vietnam News daily said the People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Mohd Hafiz
Gomez Bin Abdullah, 35, for drug trafficking on Friday.
Court officials were not available for comment on Saturday.
The newspaper quoted Abdullah as testifying at the one-day trial that he was hired to take
some 4,981 pills of the synthetic drugs into Vietnam in exchange for 7,000 ringgit ($1,842) in
April 2001. He also testified that he had smuggled ecstasy into New Zealand from Malaysia
in November 2000.
The court also fined Abdullah 300 million dong ($19,728), the newspaper said.
Vietnamese customs officials found the drugs in three nylon bags stuck to Abdhullah's torso,
official media reported after his arrest. A report valued the pills at 1.5 billion dong ($98,639)
or nearly $20 each.
Drugs abuse is widespread in Vietnam, an important transit point for narcotics from the
Golden Triangle heroin-producing region, despite government efforts to crackdown on gangs
and tighten customs control.
Reuters - April 13, 2002.
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