A court sentenced 11 people to death in one of Vietnam’s largest drug trafficking cases after an investigation that began when four flight attendants were caught carrying narcotics hidden in toothpaste tubes in 2023, state media reported.
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court handed down the death sentences to 11 defendants convicted of drug trafficking in a case that involved 227 accused people in total, online newspaper VnExpress reported yesterday.
The case stemmed from the discovery in March 2023 of more than 10kg of drugs concealed in 157 toothpaste tubes carried by four Vietnam Airlines flight attendants arriving from Paris at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat airport, VnExpress reported.
Authorities later determined the women had unknowingly transported the drugs, according to the report. Investigators subsequently uncovered what prosecutors described as a transnational trafficking network that smuggled narcotics disguised as consumer goods from France into Vietnam.
At least 20 other defendants have been sentenced to life imprisonment in the case, according to the report.
The verdicts come as Vietnam considers changes to its use of capital punishment. Last month, the government proposed abolishing the death penalty for six offences, including drug trafficking. However, the proposed changes have yet to take effect. — Reuters
