Hanoi- A court in Vietnam has sentenced three men and one woman to death for producing and smuggling methamphetamine pills in one of the largest non-heroin drug cases in the country's history, a court official said Tuesday. The People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City also sentenced one man to life and 17 accomplices in the same ring to between 5 and 18 years in prison in the trial on Monday, according to presiding judge Vu Phi Long.
The ring bought methamphetamine powder from Cambodia, pressed it into speed pills of different colours and shapes, and sold them to customers in Ho Chi Minh City.
"They produced and sold 24,000 pills weighing up to 6 kilograms in the period between 2003 and March 2005, when the ring was busted," Long said. "This is one of the largest non-heroin drug cases so far."
According to the sentencing guidelines of the People's Supreme Court of Vietnam, possessing, transporting, smuggling or producing 600 grams of heroin or 2,500 grams of synthetic drugs is punishable by death.
So far this year, Vietnam has sentenced at least 22 people to death for producing and smuggling drugs.
