Vietnam court sentences 11 to death in major drug trafficking case, state media reports

A court in Vietnam sentenced 11 ​people to death in one of ​the country's largest drug trafficking ‌cases after ​an investigation that began when four flight attendants were caught carrying narcotics hidden in toothpaste tubes in 2023, state ‌media reported on Thursday. The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court handed down the death sentences to 11 defendants convicted of drug trafficking in a case that involved 227 accused ‌people in total, online newspaper VnExpress reported.

The case stemmed from the discovery in ‌March 2023 of more than 10 kg (22 lb) of drugs concealed in 157 toothpaste tubes carried by four Vietnam Airlines flight attendants arriving from Paris at Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat ⁠airport, ​VnExpress reported. Authorities later determined the ⁠women had unknowingly transported the drugs, according to the report. Investigators subsequently uncovered what prosecutors described as ⁠a transnational trafficking network that smuggled narcotics disguised as consumer goods from France into Vietnam.

Prosecutors said ​members of the network used encrypted messaging platforms, bank accounts registered under other people's ⁠names and delivery services to distribute drugs across southern Vietnam, VnExpress reported. Details of the lawyers representing the ⁠11 ​sentenced to death were not immediately available.

At least 20 other defendants have been sentenced to life imprisonment in the case, according to the report. The verdicts ⁠come as Vietnam considers some changes to its use of capital punishment. Last month, the ⁠government proposed abolishing the ⁠death penalty for six offences, including drug trafficking, as part of a revision to the criminal code. However, the proposed changes ‌have yet ‌to take effect.