Hanoi -
A court in northern Vietnam sentenced six men to death and four to life in prison for drug trafficking, authorities said on Wednesday.
“This is the biggest drug-smuggling ring ever discovered operating in our province,” an official of Hoa Binh Provincial People's court said.
Eleven other defendants received prison sentences ranging from to one to 20 years during the seven-day trial that ended Tuesday, the court said.
According to the indictment, two suspects, Ha Ngoc Luong, 28, and Tran Le Quang, 38, were arrested on August 8, 2010 while illegally transporting 1.7kg of heroin from Lang Son, which borders Laos, to sell in Hanoi.
Police said their investigation revealed the defendants had previously trafficked 94 packages of heroin weighing a total of 33kg.
Authorities said death sentences for drug-related crimes were on the rise.
In 2007, 11 people were sentenced to death in Hanoi for drug-smuggling, the largest number of people condemned in one case in the country so far.
On August 5, Bac Giang People's Court in northern Vietnam sentenced four men to death and gave life sentences to eight for drug trafficking. -
Sapa-dpa