Taiwanese get Vietnam death sentence for drugs
A Vietnamese court has sentenced to death two Taiwanese men for trafficking more than 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) of heroin, a court clerk in the southern Mekong delta said Friday.
Lee Chin Wen, 35, and Wei Chun Lung, 23, were arrested in May 2007, together with three Vietnamese women and another Taiwanese, said a court clerk from the An Giang province people's court, who identified herself only as Tam.
The three accomplices received jail sentences of up to 20 years imprisonment, the clerk told AFP after a two-day trial.
State media earlier reported that the ring had used Vietnam as a transit point to transport heroin from Cambodia to another Asian country and Australia.
In communist Vietnam, people found guilty of possessing more than 600 grams of heroin or 20 kilogrammes of opium are usually sentenced to death.
So far this year, at least 37 people have received the death penalty, mostly for trafficking drugs. Seven others have faced the firing squad, according to figures compiled from officials and press reports.
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