VIETNAM. THREE WOMEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TRAFFICKING HEROIN

November 9, 2007: a Vietnamese court sentenced three women to death and two other people to life imprisonment in a drug trafficking ring involving more than 3.2 kilos of heroin, an official said.
The People's Court of Hanoi handed the death sentences to the ring's leaders Tran Thi Yen, 37, Nguyen Mai Hoa, 38, and Le Minh Nguyet, 41, at the four-day trial, according to Nguyen Van Hoi, head of the court's office. The ring trafficked more than 3.2 kilos of heroin and nearly 30 grams of in Hanoi between October 2005 and August 2006, when it was busted, according to the court's indictment. The court also sentenced two other accomplices in the ring to life imprisonment and three others to between 14 months and 20 years in prison, the official said. (Sources: Monsters & Critics, 10/11/2007)