23 October 2000 :

The Ninh Binh People's Court handed down death sentence to three defendants in the second biggest opium trafficking ring in the northern Ninh Binh province since the ring led by Nguyen Ngoc Phu was detected in 1999. The ring, involving 15 culprits, had allegedly trafficked 106kg of opium from the central Thanh Hoa province to Ninh Binh since 1992. Heads of the ring, Tran Van Thanh, Chu Van Khanh and Tran Van Kim, were sentenced to death while the remaining defendants were given five year to life imprisonment.