Two female Lao drug traffickers are caught while attempting to smuggle 60,000 methamphetamine pills into Việt Nam on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo

THANH HÓA — A man from Hà Nội was sentenced to death for trafficking up to 3kg of heroin by the Thanh Hóa Court on Tuesday.

The court heard that Lã Văn Hà, 32, ran into an old acquaintance – a Lao man named Tua in Quế Phong District, Nghệ An Province on August 21 last year.

Tua asked him to deliver eight packages of heroin from Quế Phong to Hà Nội, promising a payment of VNĐ120 million (US$5,100) for the courier job.

The two men then agreed to meet again the next night when Hà received the drugs and hid them in his car.

He started driving towards Hà Nội the same night but was stopped by traffic police while passing Tĩnh Gia District in Thanh Hóa Province.

The police found the drugs while searching his car and arrested him.

Hà was found guilty of delivering drugs in a trial opened by the Thanh Hóa People’s Court on Tuesday.

Lao drug gang arrested

Four Lao nationals have been arrested while attempting to smuggle 60,000 methamphetamine pills into Việt Nam, Quảng Bình Province border guard said on Wednesday.

In a joint operation of Vietnamese border guards and Lao security forces, three women and a man, all in their 20s, were discovered on Tuesday afternoon in the border mountainous area in Laos’ Khammouan Province carrying boxes suspected of containing drugs.

The gang was said to have fought back against officers with weapons and fled into the forest to escape.

The police, however, managed to nab all four after an hour of intense searching in the area.

They also seized the 60,000 pills from the gang members.

Further investigation into the case is ongoing. — VNS