Ten members of a drug ring in Tây Ninh stand trial on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Three separate courts on Thursday handed death penalties to five people and life sentences to another seven who were found guilty of dealing drugs.

A 42-year-old Cambodian man, Choun PhiRin, and 38-year-old Vietnamese man, Huỳnh Văn Lâm, stood trial held by the Tây Ninh People’s Court in southern Việt Nam for having smuggled more than 12.5kg of various types of narcotics via the Cambodia-Việt Nam border.

Lâm was arrested by Mộc Bài border guards on October 20, 2018 after two bags of methamphetamine were found hidden under his motorbike saddle.

Following Lâm’s testimony, the border guards carried out a raid at Choun PhiRin’s house in Tây Ninh’s An Quới hamlet, seizing more than 8.5kg of different types of narcotics. The Cambodian national was also arrested during the raid.

The border province of Tây Ninh opened another trial on Thursday against a 10-member drug ring that smuggled drugs from Cambodia into Việt Nam.

The ring leader Phùng Hồng Huy, 42, and two of his subordinates, Phạm Hồng Thái, 26, and a Cambodian national Lim SoThea, 35, were found guilty of trading drugs and using military weapons and thus were sentenced to death.

The jury sentenced another five including Buy BunLy, 52, Ngô Quốc Anh and Lê Quốc Trung, both 28, Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Thủy, 25, and Triệu Quang Khánh, 20, to life in prison for the same offence.

Nguyễn Thái Sơn, 31 and Nguyễn Hoàng Sang, 26, received 20-year jail terms for trading drugs.

Police first discovered the ring on March 22, 2018 when Lim SoThea and Buy BunLy were arrested while carrying two backpacks containing 4.86kg of narcotics and a Makarov K59 pistol, a magazine and six bullets.

An investigation later nabbed the rest of the ring, following house raids seizing more than 8.7kg of various types of narcotics.

The border province of Hòa Bình in the north of  the country also held a trial against three men named Trần Quang Suất, 66, Lù A Cha, 26 and Mùa A Hồ, 25, for illegally dealing of drugs on Thursday.

The jury found them guilty of trading two packages of heroin and possessing different kinds of narcotics including synthetic drugs, crystal meth and opium.

Suất and Cha received life sentences while Hồ was handed a 20-year jail term.

Việt Nam is one of the countries with the strictest penalties against drugs trafficking, with those found with more than 100 grams of heroin or cocaine facing the death penalty. — VNS