Thursday, June 08, 2006

Drug traffickers executed in Vietnam largest-ever ring

Nguyen Van Hai, drug traffic ring mastermind (Photo Thanh Nien)

Thanh Nien (Vietnam)

Five Vietnamese drug traffickers including a policeman were executed by the firing squad Wednesday for smuggling over 800kg of heroin from Laos and Cambodia, the biggest volume ever in a drug case in Vietnam.

They include mastermind Nguyen Van Hai, alias Hai Luan and his associate Tran Van Le, aka “fat Le”, former head of the central Nghe An province’s Tuong Duong district anti-drug unit.

Hai had traded over 523kg while Le 215kg. Trafficking 600g of heroin is punishable by death in Vietnam.

The group was executed in Ho Chi Minh City.

An appeal court in the city last year handed death sentences to 16 traffickers in what is considered the biggest ever drug case in Vietnam.

Reported by Minh Thuan, Le Nga – Translated by Hoang Bao

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