Eleven people sentenced to death in Vietnam drug trafficking case
More than 200 people are convicted over a network smuggling drugs into Vietnam in toothpaste tubes and other consumer items.
Eleven people sentenced to death in Vietnam drug trafficking case
A court in Vietnam has sentenced 11 people to death in one of the country’s biggest drug trafficking cases, state media say.
They are among 227 defendants in all, with prison terms ranging from 18 months to life.
Among those given death sentences was the alleged ringleader of the trafficking operation, Ha Danh Nam, whom investigators said organised for the drugs to be transported from France to Vietnam.
The case started in March 2023, when four Vietnam Airlines flight attendants arriving in Ho Chi Minh City from Paris were found carrying more than 10kg of drugs hidden in 157 toothpaste tubes.
Bao Cong Ly, a legal affairs newspaper, reported that authorities determined the flight attendants - who were not prosecuted - had unknowingly carried the drugs, including MDMA and ketamine.
Nam was said to have concealed the drugs in consumer products such as dietary supplements, laundry detergent, mouthwash and coffee, before arranging for people in France to carry them in their luggage or send them through delivery services to Vietnam.
Local media report that Nam recruited Vietnamese nationals living or studying in France to serve as drug mules.
Prosecutors said members of this cross-border trafficking network used encrypted messaging apps and bank accounts opened in other people’s names to carry out their smuggling.
They said transactions tied to the network were worth almost 29 trillion Vietnamese dong ($1.1bn; £815m).
The court said the defendants had different roles in the network, from leaders to accomplices, and that punishments were handed down based on how serious their involvement was.
About 20 other defendants were given life sentences for illegally buying, selling, transporting and organising drugs.
According to Amnesty International, Vietnam is one of 53 countries that still retain the death penalty.
The government does not disclose how many people are on death row, since that information is treated as a state secret, although human rights groups say more than 1,000 people are awaiting execution.
Last month, the Vietnamese government proposed scrapping the death penalty for six offences, including drug trafficking. Those proposed changes have not yet taken effect.
The proposal comes after 2025 amendments to the criminal code removed the death penalty for eight offences, including embezzlement, espionage and overthrowing the government.
Among the best-known people to receive a death sentence was tycoon Truong My Lan, who was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to death in 2024.
After the 2025 legal change, her death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.