22 September 2000 :

The five-day appeal court trying Vietnam's biggest drug case in Nam Dinh province reached its verdict. The judge upheld the death sentences for Nguyen Van Tam, Nguyen Van Quyet, Ngo Van Doan, Pham Van Tuan, Nguyen Xuan Toan, Pham Ngoc Dinh, Tran Ngoc Quynh, and Hoang Kim Hoan. Luong Van Chinh was the only defendant whose sentence was commuted to life in jail. The remaining six defendants were sentenced from 18 years to life imprisonment. Among those sentenced to death Nguyen Van Tam was identified as the leader of the trafficking ring, who confessed during the trial to trafficking in heroin since the early 1990s.