The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on Saturday sentenced 18 people, including a Chinese and two South Koreans, to death for their participation in a cross-border drug trafficking network that traded and transported 216.3 kilograms of narcotics.

For their involvement in the massive ring, three other Vietnamese were sentenced to life imprisonment, while another received 15 years in jail.

The ring involved foreign individuals in collaboration with Vietnamese accomplices unlawfully storing, transporting, and trading drugs from Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City.

A portion of the narcotics was for domestic use, while the remainder was on the way to South Korea for consumption.

The three foreigners include Li Tian Guan, a Chinese, Kim Soon Sik, and Kang Seon Hak, both South Korean nationals.

Le Ho Vu, a 36-year-old resident of Ca Mau Province in the Mekong Delta region, acted as the mastermind of the ring.

According to the indictment,

At 1:00 am on July 19, 2020, an investigation team of the Ministry of Public Security detected a suspicious tractor trailer in the process of completing customs procedures for a shipment bound for South Korea when they were stationed at Tan Cang Cat Lai Port in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, according to the indictment.

After the urgent inspection of the vehicle, the force discovered 40 plastic bags containing illicit substances concealed in marble bundles. These substances, identified as methamphetamine, weighed 39.5 kilograms.

The driver of the vehicle admitted that he was providing transportation services for APE Industrial Machinery and Equipment Co. Ltd., owned by Huynh Thi Hoa Tran.

After being summoned, Tran testified that the confiscated consignment belonged to Kim, who was her boyfriend.

According to the jury, most of the defendants claimed their innocence, but evidence, testimonies, and documents showed that from May to July 2020, they engaged in trading, storing, and transporting drugs in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as neighboring Dong Nai and Binh Duong Provinces.

The total volume of narcotics of various types related to the ring exceeded 216 kilograms, with over 162 kilograms being confiscated, while the remaining quantity already reached end users.

According to the investigation results, Kim arrived in Vietnam in May 2019 and rented an apartment in Thu Duc for business purposes.

At the end of January 2020, Kim met Li at a South Korean eatery.

In early June 2020, Li tasked Kim with trafficking narcotics, offering a remuneration of 5 million Korean won (US$3,800) per kilogram.

Kim then sought assistance from Kang for the drug transportation operations.

During the operation of the illegal business, Vu, assigned by Be, a Vietnamese living in Cambodia, and many other accomplices repeatedly delivered drugs to Li, Kim, and Kang.

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