A former Vietnamese policewoman has been sentenced to seven years in prison for helping a woman plant heroin in her boyfriend’s car in 2016 as part of a conspiracy to have him put behind bars.

The People’s Court in Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi on Wednesday condemned Nguyen Thi Vung, a previous a senior lieutenant and officer in the anti-trafficking department under the Ministry of Public Security, to six years behind bars for “narcotics stockpiling” and another year for slander.

Nguyen Thi Van, the second defendant at the trial, was given a five-year jail term for storing drugs and another 1.5 years for slander.

According to court documents, Van, 38, and Nguyen Van Thien, 45, were previously involved in a romantic relationship before a serious conflict broke out between them.

In September 2016, Van contacted Vung, who was still working in the anti-trafficking department at the time, and asked for her help in getting Thien arrested.

Van agreed to pay Vung VND1 billion ($43,000) for her help with supplying the narcotics that the former eventually planted in Thien’s car.

As part of their agreement, Van received seven grams of heroin from a contact at an arranged location on October 28 and secretly hid the drugs inside her boyfriend’s car.

The crime of stockpiling 0.1-5 grams of heroin carries a prison term of up to five years, according to the Criminal Code of Vietnam.

Vung alerted other police officers to search Thien’s vehicle later the same day.

Thien was arrested and released one week later, after police found no evidence to suggest he had anything to do with the heroin found in his car.

After his release, Thien spent months collecting proof, including chat messages and recordings of phone conversations between Van and Vung discussing their plot, and submitted it to investigators.

At the trial, Vung denied all wrongdoing, but the jury stated they had sufficient evidence against her.

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