Singapore executes Australian heroin trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van

Australian heroin trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van was executed early today, the Singaporean government said. "The sentence was carried out this morning at Changi Prison," the Home Affairs Ministry said in an e-mailed statement.

Nguyen, 25, was hanged before dawn despite numerous appeals from Australia for his life to be spared, the AP reported.

Nguyen received a mandatory death sentence after being caught with 396 grams (14 ounces) of heroin at the city-state's Changi Airport in 2002. A.M.