Defendants at the trial in Hồ Chí Minh City on Tuesday. Photo vietnamnet.vn

HCM CITY — Three South Korean tourists have each been sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempting to smuggle drugs out of Việt Nam after customs officers found ketamine hidden in the lining of their underwear at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport.

The HCM City People's Court handed down the sentences on June 16 against Nam Hyunuk, 29, Lee Dong Woo, 26, and Jeon Gukbin, 28, on charges of illegally transporting narcotic substances.

According to the indictment, at about 1.20pm on August 23, 2024, officers from the export baggage procedures team at the airport's border customs sub-department carried out checks on the three passengers and their carry-on luggage. During the inspection, a packet of ketamine was found concealed in the underwear lining worn by each of the three men.

According to the defendants' statements, all three had travelled to Việt Nam together on August 20, 2024, to film TikTok videos featuring entertainment and dining venues. On the evening of August 21, they visited a bar on Bùi Viện pedestrian street, where they met a Vietnamese woman whose identity remains unknown.

During their conversation, the woman asked Nam Hyunuk to carry a package she described as medicine and nutritional food back to South Korea, saying someone would contact him to collect it and offering payment of three million won. Nam Hyunuk then told Lee Dong Woo and Jeon Gukbin, and both agreed to help transport the goods.

On August 22, Nam Hyunuk returned to the bar, met the woman, and received a red cloth bag containing three nylon packages. The woman told him the quantity was large enough to attract customs duty and instructed him to conceal the packages in his underwear.

Nam Hyunuk brought the packages back and divided them among the other two, after which all three hid the packages in the lining of their underwear.

At the trial, all three defendants admitted to the offences as set out in the indictment. Finding their conduct to be particularly dangerous, the judicial panel handed down 20-year sentences for each.

The woman who hired the defendants to transport the drugs has not been charged. As Nam Hyunuk said he did not know her identity or background, the Criminal Investigation Police Agency had no grounds on which to proceed against her. — VNS