~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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[Year 2002]

Vietnam detains Vietnamese-Australian with heroin

HANOI - A 34-year-old Australian woman of Vietnamese origin was detained at the weekend before boarding a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney with nearly a kilo of heroin, official media said on Tuesday. The state-run Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper said Nguyen Thi Kim Hieu was detained at the city's Tan Son Nhat airport on Saturday night while boarding the flight carrying nearly 812 grams (1.8 lb) of heroin.

She has been charged with drug trafficking, the paper said. Customs officials were not immediately available for comment. The paper said Hieu, whose hometown in Australia was not given, had testified she was hired to take the drugs to Sydney for a payment of 30,000 Australian dollar. Further investigation was under way, he said. Trafficking in as little as 600 gram (1.3 lb) of heroin is punishable by death or life imprisonment in Vietnam. Execution is carried out by firing squad.

Last November, another Vietnamese-Australian woman was also detained at the same airport as she prepared to board a flight to Sydney with 881 grams (about two lb) of heroin. At the time, Thanh Nien quoted police as saying the woman could have been a courier for a trafficking ring with links to the Golden Triangle heroin-producing region.

Myanmar, Laos and Thailand constitute the Golden Triangle, the world's second largest source of heroin, most of which comes from Myanmar. Vietnam is an important transit point for drugs from the region.

Reuters - January 29, 2002.