Vietnam: Eight more face death for heroin trade

Hanoi (dpa) - In one of northern Vietnam's largest drug cases in years, a court on Tuesday sentenced to death eight people convicted of running a heroin ring, a drug enforcement official said.

The People's Court of Son La province, which borders Laos, found 31 people guilty of either transporting opium or producing heroin, said Le Minh Loan, head of the province's anti-narcotics' force.

In addition to the death sentences, 13 defendants were given life sentences. Nine others received lengthy prison terms, and one was sentenced to time served.

The ring was accused of producing 44 kilograms of heroin and trafficking 216 kilograms of heroin and 199 kilograms of opium in the period between 2000 and 2004.

Under Vietnamese law, trading more than 600 grams of heroin is punishable by death.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, Vietnam now has 160,226 drug addicts, more than 70% of which are between 18 and 35 years old.

Vietnam: Heroin smugglers sentenced to death

Quang Binh, Vietnam: Four Vietnamese, including two men with British passports, were sentenced to death after a five-day trial this week for smuggling 339 kg of heroin into the country from neighboring Laos. They have 15 days to appeal their convictions.

Vietnam, which has some of the toughest drug laws in the world, imposes the death penalty on anyone caught with more than 600 grams of heroin or 20kg of opium. Source. More on Vietnam here.

Drug addiction in Vietnam surges

The number of drug addicts in Vietnam surged 56.8 percent to 158,428 in 2005 from 101,036 in 2000, according to a recent national conference.

Vietnam, which has targeted to become a drug-free country by 2015, annually spends an estimated 320 billion Vietnamese dong (20.1 million U.S. dollars) on detoxification activities.

Source: Chinese news agency Xinhua.