A Vietnam court on Monday handed down death sentences to three of the six members of a drug trafficking group that illegally traded 31 bricks of heroin, or roughly 11kg.

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Ngo Thanh Ly, 42, Phan Dinh Lap, 39, and Vu Thanh Trung, 42, received the capital punishment at their hearing opened by the People’s Court of the central province of Nghe An. Ly and Lap were local residents while Trung hailed from the northern province of Nam Dinh.  Three others got life sentences: Tran Thi Hoai Thanh, a 28-year-old woman, and two men, Hoang Trong Duong, 43, and Hoang Van Tien, 35. All three are local residents. According to the indictment, from May to July 2013, the six bought heroin many times in Nghe An and then transported it to Ho Chi Minh City for sale. Lap was in charge of finding heroin supply, while Ly took on transport and Trung dealt with customers. By July 2013, when the ring members were arrested, the total amount of heroin they had traded was 31 bricks, or roughly 11 kg. Last month, eight of the 35 members of a drug trafficking ring were also sentenced to death by the People’s Court of the northern province of Hoa Binh for illegally transporting and trading 541 bricks of heroin, or about 190kg. The court also sentenced five other ring members to life imprisonment and gave sentences ranging from two to 20 years in jail to the remaining 22 convicts. Under Article 194 of the Vietnamese Penal Code, twenty years of imprisonment, life imprisonment or capital punishment can be given to those who are convicted of illegally stockpiling, transporting, trading or appropriating heroin or cocaine weighing 100 grams or more. The same penalties are also given to those who commit the crimes in one of the following circumstances: opium resin, marijuana resin or coca plasma weighing five kilograms or more; marijuana leaves, flowers, fruit or coca leaves weighing 75 kilograms or more; dried poppy fruit weighing 600 kilograms or more; fresh poppy fruit weighing 150 kilograms or more; other narcotic substances in solid form weighing 300 grams or more or in liquid form measuring 750 milliliters or more.

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