HANOI: A Hanoi court has handed down severe sentences to 17 people convicted in a transnational drug-trafficking operation that moved large quantities of narcotics from Laos into Vietnam, according to court officials and prosecutors.
The Hanoi People’s Court on Wednesday (May 13) sentenced four defendants to death, including Quang Van Thanh, 32; Lo Ngoc Quyen, 29; Bac Cam Anh, 29; and Tran Chi Thanh, 36, all from Dien Bien Province.
Another defendant, Le Thanh Tam, 56, received a life sentence. Prosecutors said Tam had previously been sentenced to death by a court in HCM City for related offences and his combined penalty is death.
Of the remaining 12 defendants, nine were sentenced to life imprisonment while three received prison terms ranging from 15 to 20 years.
According to the Supreme People’s Procuracy, police stopped a suspicious vehicle at around 12.15am on May 28, 2024, on National Highway 1A in Hanoi’s Thanh Tri Commune.
Police reportedly fired warning shots after the driver, identified as Nguyen An Dai, 33, failed to stop.
A search of the vehicle uncovered more than 10.89kg of methamphetamine hidden inside a cardboard box in the boot, prosecutors said.
Investigators alleged that Dai told authorities he had been hired by a man named Nguyen Tien Thanh to transport the drugs from a rest stop on the Phap Van–Cau Gie Expressway to Yen So Park for delivery.
In a separate case on March 7, 2024, police arrested Hoang Van Tin, 28, at Nuoc Ngam Bus Station in Hanoi while he was allegedly handing three cardboard boxes to Vi Van Luong, 20. Investigators said the boxes contained various illegal drugs.
Expanded investigations found that between April 2022 and September 2024 the network allegedly worked with contacts in Laos to import and distribute heroin, ketamine, methamphetamine and MDMA in HCM City and several other provinces, with total quantities exceeding 158.76kg.
Prosecutors identified Quang Van Thanh as a central figure in the operation, alleging that he repeatedly trafficked in 10 kilogrammes of narcotics and earned illicit profits of more than VNĐ1 billion (US$37,960). - Vietnam News/ ANN
