VIETNAM: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH IN DIFFERENT DRUG CASES

May 21, 2014: Two Ho Chi Minh City courts independently sentenced a disabled man and an Australian Vietnamese to death for drug trafficking.
Nguyen Van Vinh, 45, of Binh Phuoc Province started selling heroin early last year in connection with his son-in-law and a relative in the city despite only having one arm and a paralyzed leg.
Vinh received the death sentence for trafficking 1.5 kilograms of heroin. His relative Nguyen Huu Duc, 50, received a life sentence for seeking out customers, and his son-in-law Nguyen Quang Long, 29, faces 20 years for delivering the narcotics, news website VnExpress reported.
In another trial, Tran Minh Dat of Australia, was sentenced to death after being discovered with 2.7 kilograms of heroin in his luggage last February.
Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported that Dat claimed he was transporting the narcotics for a Vietnamese man in Australia, to pay off a debt of some $10,000.
Dat emigrated to Australia through fake marriage with an Australian citizen. (Sources: thanhniennews.com, 22/05/2014)