A court in Vietnam has sentenced a Thai woman to death for illegally carrying 2.4kg of cocaine from Senegal to Vietnam by air last year.

Klincharoen Dutdaw, 26, of Thai nationality, received the capital punishment at her trial conducted by the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday on charges of illegal drug transport, as prescribed by the Vietnamese Penal Code.

The woman was caught carrying 2.4kg of cocaine hidden in her two-bottom suitcase when she checked in at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City in June last year from a flight from Senegal in Africa.

According to the indictment, in June 2022, Klincharoen became acquainted with Austus, a 30-year-old Nigerian man who became her boyfriend.

On May 10, 2023, Austus hired Klincharoen to travel from Thailand to Senegal to pick up a suitcase and bring it back to Thailand for his friend.

As per their agreement, Austus would pay Klincharoen 50,000 baht (US$1,380) for transporting the suitcase and cover all expenses related to her trips.

On May 15, 2023, Klincharoen left Thailand for Laos, where she took a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, with a layover in Vietnam.

Four days later, the woman flew from Istanbul to Senegal, where she was picked up by a dark-skinned woman who took her to a hotel. 

On June 4, 2023, this strange woman handed a suitcase to Klincharoen, asking her to bring it back to Thailand.

Klincharoen then received a text message from an unknown man asking her not to open the suitcase during her trip.

The Thai later flew back to Istanbul, where she took a flight to Ho Chi Minh City.

On June 5, 2023, Klincharoen reached Tan Son Nhat International Airport, where customs officers detected the cocaine in her suitcase while she was about to fly to Laos before returning to Thailand.

At the court, Klincharoen admitted that she knew the suitcase contained drugs but agreed to transport it from Senegal to Thailand to receive payment from Austus.

The trial panel stated that her actions were particularly serious and dangerous to society.

Therefore, she had to be punished strictly according to the law.

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