The defendants in the large-scale drug trafficking ring at court. — Photo vov.nv

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội’s High-Level People’s Court has upheld the death sentence handed down to the ringleader and nine other members of a large-scale inter-provincial drug smuggling ring at an appeal trial in Hà Nội on Tuesday.

Phạm Minh Tuấn, 47, from Hà Nội’s Hai Bà Trưng District, and his nine-member gang were convicted at a first instance trial of Hà Nội’s People’s Court in May 2019 for trafficking over 60kg of drugs, the Voice of Việt Nam reported.

According to the indictment, from late August 2015 to September 2016, Tuấn and Nguyễn Hoàng Quân set up a ring to transport drugs from the north to the south by train for consumption.

After the first trial, Tuấn and his accomplices appealed the sentence.

Three other defendants in this gang also received life sentences for illegal drug trafficking at the first trial. — VNS