Nigerian trafficker A.D.A., 32, was arrested after he was caught red-handed receiving 250 grams of drugs from his Vietnamese girlfriend in Ho Chi Minh City last week.

Police sources told Tuoi Tre that custom officials at Tan Son Nhat Airport last Thursday found two plastic bags containing 250 grams of crystal methamphetamine hidden in two bottle gourds disguised as presents for 40-year-old Đ.T.T.N. residing on District 3’s Tran Quang Dieu Street, who was later nabbed for questioning.

The officials said the drugs were trafficked into Vietnam from Nairobi, Kenya.

In her initial testimony to police, N. said she would meet A.D.A. at a hotel on Hoa Lan Street in Phu Nhuan district on November 9 to hand over the drugs. As a result, A.D.A was arrested upon receiving the drugs at their meeting place.

N., an English teacher in HCMC, confessed to police that A.D.A. is her boyfriend.

Police added that on September 5, 2012, N. also received a batch of goods containing 200 grams of crystal methamphetamine through EMS.

Tough sentences for African drug dealers

In recent years, police in Vietnam have busted many drug smuggling rings led by African men and seized a large amount of drugs. All of them have gotten tough sentences.

African men often hire local students or women to carry drugs to avoid police suspicion, police said.

In September, 2010, Nigerian Chime Chidike Ben, 34, the ringleader of a drug smuggling gang, was jailed for life by a court in Hanoi for trafficking more than 1 kilogram of heroin from India to Vietnam and then on to China.

In March 2011, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court sentenced Michael Ikenna Nduanya, a 34-year-old Nigerian, to death, and his wife, Nguyen Thi Hai Anh, a 27-year-old Vietnamese from Dak Lak Province, to life imprisonment after the couple were caught red-handed illegally transporting about 1 kilogram of heroin.

In April, 2011, 33-year-old Nnaji David Ete, also from Nigeria, was handed a death sentence by a Ho Chi Minh City court for smuggling more than 11 kilograms of heroin.

In October, 2011, a court in HCMC handed down a life sentence to Chukwuma Obi Remy, a Nigerian national, and a death sentence to his local accomplice, Doan Nguyen Minh Chau, for trafficking 11.5 kilograms of heroin.

The court also sentenced four African men involved in the case to 15 to 20 years in jail. They are Chukwuma Obi Remy, 40, Okapor Peter Chuma, 35, and Nnamdi Aghaji, 33 from Nigeria and Regina Whing Wiri, 32, from Zimbabwe.