Two South Koreans were among 18 people sentenced to death on drug smuggling and trafficking charges in Vietnam, state media said.
The communist country has some of the toughest drug laws in the world, and is notoriously secretive about its executions.
South Korean ex-police officer Kim Soon-sik, 63, and compatriot Kang Seon-hok, 30, were sentenced to death following a four-day trial in Ho Chin Minh City, state media said late Saturday.
Chinese citizen Li Tian Guan, 58, and alleged Vietnamese ringleader Le Ho Vu, 36, were also handed death sentences.
Fourteen other people were also handed death sentences in connection with the case, following the trial in the Family and Juvenile Court, under Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court.
The group “illegally stored, trafficked and traded more than 216kg of drugs” between May and June 2020, state media news site Cong anNhandan reported.
More than 168 kilograms (370 pounds) of “all kinds of drugs” were confiscated, it reported, without specifying what type.
The narcotics were trafficked from Cambodia to Ho Chin Minh City, according to Vu, where some were “consumed domestically” while others were transported to South Korea, Cong an Nhandan said.
Officers busted the operation on July 19 in Ho Chin Minh City, according to the reported indictment, when they searched a container truck preparing to complete customs clearance for shipment to South Korea.
Inside they found “40 plastic packages containing white crystals, with a total of 39.5kg of methamphetamine”.
State media reported Vu was convicted of “illegal transportation of drugs” and “using fake seals or documents of organisations”. The other 17 people were convicted of “illegal possession of drug”, “illegal trading of drugs”, “illegal drug trafficking” and “organisation of illegal use of drugs”, state media said.—INP
