Drug ring leader Nguyen Quoc Hung. (Photo: VNA) They include Nguyen QuocHung (Thai Binh province), Nghiem Cong Dung and Nguyen Van Tinh (Hanoi), Lo VanHoan (Son La province), Dam Viet Thang, Luc Van Thuong, Loc Minh Duc and DamNgoc Giang (Lang Son province).
NguyenQuoc Hung was also found guilty of illegal possession of weapons.
Three others, namely DangMinh Chau, Vi Van Tuan, and Hoang Thi Lien, from Lang Son province, were givenlife sentences for drug dealing.
Nguyen Hoang Quan from CanTho city received 18 months in prison for illegally possessing weapons whileHuynh Kim Thu from Hanoifaced a 12-month suspended prison sentence for not reporting crimes.
According to the court, thePolice Department for Drug Crime Investigation under the Ministry of PublicSecurity along with the Vietnam Coast Guard Command and police from Hoa Binhand Hanoi,arrested six people for trafficking 170 bricks of heroin hidden in a blue gascylinder in July 2015.
The police also discoveredtwo pink industrial gas cylinders, containing 320 heroin packages while raidingHung’s rented house in Hoai Duc district, Hanoi.
Expanding the investigation,the police uncovered a nationwide drug ring.
From 2004 to 2015, thedefendants traded 1,182 bricks of heroin, 568 of which were seized by thepolice. They also used weapons to resist arrest.
Among the 13 defendants,Dang Minh Chau was identified as the ringleader, involved in the illegal tradeof 862 bricks of heroin weighing more than 303kg.
The death penalty wasconsidered in Chau’s case, but the court sentenced her to life in jail as sheis raising young children.
According to Vietnamese law,the death penalty is applied in Vietnam in cases of trafficking 100 grams ofheroin or more.-VNA
