A Vietnam court has sentenced five members of a transnational drug trafficking ring, including two Chinese citizens, to death for transporting nearly 575kg of methamphetamine, known colloquially as ‘crystal meth.’

The two Chinese defendants were 55-year-old Huang Zai Wen and 59-year-old Wu He Shan, while their three Vietnamese accomplices included Thao Na Pao, 48, Ly A Vu, 35, and Thao A Do, 40, all members of the Mong ethnic community in northern Dien Bien Province, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court announced during their trial on Wednesday.

The five were charged with the “illegal transport of narcotics” as prescribed in the Vietnamese Penal Code.

According to the case file, Wu arrived in Ho Chi Minh City in 2000 and established He Shan Co. Ltd. two years later to trade in children’s toys and apparel. 

In April 2018, Huang moved to the city to work for another Chinese man known only as Hung, whose background remains unknown.

Seven months later, Hung had Wu buy 20 tons of plastic granules which they planned to export to the Philippines.

Hung and Huang then asked Wu to conceal 12 unmarked packages amongst the plastic granules inside a shipping container.

Hung claimed the packages to contain loudspeakers.

The shipping container was then transported to the Philippines.

On February 24, 2019, Hung attempted to repeat the process by asking Wu to stash 12 more unmarked packages amongst a 2.4-ton shipment of plastic granules bound for the Philippines.

This time, he claimed the packages to be sticky rice.

On March 20, 2019, Pao and Huang were arrested when police caught the former illegally transporting 300 packages containing a combined 298.6kg of meth to Huang in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City.

Pao confessed to police that Vu and Do were also involved in the case. Both Vu and Do were taken into police custody shortly after.

Police then expanded their probe, which led to the arrest of Wu.

Officers were unable to track down Hung.       

Based on testimonies submitted by the detainees, police notified the Anti-Drug Agency, the Customs Department, and the Coast Guard of the Philippines about the suspicious 2.4-ton shipment.

On March 23, 2019, the Philippine Anti-Drug Agency conducted an inspection of the shipment and found a total of 276.3 kg of meth hidden in 36 boxes labeled as Chinese tea boxes.

Five additional members of the trafficking ring were identified during the police investigation, but have yet to be tracked down, the court said.

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