The Hanoi People’s Court on Thursday sentenced three men to death for smuggling 49 cakes of heroin and about 3 kg of synthetic drugs.

>> Vietnam gives life sentence to Chinese meth trafficker >> Thai woman sentenced to death for drug trafficking>> Nigerian gets death for drug trafficking in Vietnam Death penalties were given to Giang A Khua, 27, and Hoa Dang Son, 49, both of Son La Province, and Vu Son, 50, of Hanoi, who were charged with illegally trading drugs. The court gave a life sentence to Uong Thi Bo, 39, of Hanoi, on the same charges. The defendants were arrested on September 2012 after traffic police in Hanoi stopped a suspicious car for examination and found 29 cakes of heroin and 1 kg of synthetic drugs hidden in the car’s hood.  At yesterday’s trial, Son told the court that he had been hired by a Chinese man to transport drugs from Son La’s Moc Chau District to Lang Son, which borders China, for VND8 million (US$384) per cake of heroin and VND10 million per kilogram of synthetic drugs. The Chinese man then handed large sums of money over to Son so that he and his accomplices could buy heroin and drugs from Khua in Lang Son.  During the months of July and August 2012, Son and his accomplices bought 20 cakes (about 7 kg) of heroin for US$5,000 per cake and 2 kg of ecstasy for $30,000 per kg and delivered all of the drugs to the Chinese man. They also bought a gun for the foreigner at his request.

On September 3 Son and his accomplice bought 29 cakes of heroin (about 10 kg) and 1 kg of synthetic drugs.

The smugglers were arrested while on the way to Lang Son to deliver the Chinese man’s drugs.

Based on the men’s testimonies, police later arrested Khua.