Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) - The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City on September 3 sentenced 11 defendants to death in a drug trafficking case stemming from a March 2023 investigation in which four female flight attendants were unwittingly used to transport drugs through Tan Son Nhat International Airport.
After nearly 20 days of trial and deliberation, the court handed down verdicts for 227 defendants and imposed fines of 50-100 million VND (1,900 - 3,800 USD) each.
The 11 defendants sentenced to death for drug trafficking are Ha Danh Nam, born in 1974; Le Thang Anh Tu (1997); Le Nguyen Gia Bao (2001); Nguyen Huy Hoang (1997); Van Hoang Minh (2000); Pham Duc Duy (1993); Tran Kien An (1993); Nguyen Thanh Nhan (1999); Pham Anh Khoa (1995); Trinh Bao Quan (1999); and Nguyen Xuan Hieu (1997).
Nam was identified as the mastermind controlling multiple branches of the trafficking network and held responsible for trading almost 18kg of narcotics.
On the same charge of illegally transporting narcotics, the court sentenced Hoang Sy Thang, 39, and Bui Van Anh, 29, to life imprisonment. Thang was identified as the direct recipient of packages containing narcotics from Nam. Then he divided the drugs and instructed Anh to deliver them to distribution contacts.
Another 20 defendants received life sentences for trading narcotics. The remaining defendants were given prison terms ranging from 18 months (suspended) to 29 years for charges of illegal trading, transporting, and possession of narcotics; organising illegal drug use, failure to report crimes, and misappropriation of property.
The case dates back to March 16, 2023, when customs at Tan Son Nhat International Airport flagged suspicious packages in the luggage of four flight attendants, namely Tran Thi Thu Ngan, Dang Phuong Van, Vo Tu Quynh and Nguyen Thanh Thuy, who arrived on flight VN10 from France. A subsequent inspection found 327 toothpaste tubes, 157 of which contained more than 11 kg of drugs.
The case was then transferred to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Public Security’s Investigation Police Agency, which opened a criminal investigation and set up the VN10 special task force to expand the probe.
Investigators found that beyond the shipment seized at the airport, Nam, also known as “Huu Son”, had arranged six other shipments of synthetic drugs from France to Vietnam. The drugs were concealed in toothpaste tubes and boxes of dietary supplements and moved by air.
Nam allegedly recruited Vietnamese nationals studying or living in France to collect the goods and send them to Vietnam through international express delivery services.
The expanded investigation uncovered multiple networks involved in receiving, transporting, trading and possessing drugs, as well as organising illegal drug use, leading to the prosecution of 227 defendants.
They include singer Nguyen Trung Hieu, known as Chi Dan, and Spanish national Andrea Aybar Carmona, also known as An Tay, a model and actress. Both face charges of organising illegal drug use and illegal possession of narcotics./.
