Court sentences Vietnamese woman to death for heroin trafficking

A court in northern Vietnam sentenced a woman to death for smuggling heroin to neighboring China, state-controlled media reported Thursday. Tran Thi Thu Thanh, 39, was convicted of illegally transporting 4.56 kilograms (10 pounds) of heroin from Vietnam to China.

She was sentenced to face the firing squad at the end of the one-day trial on Wednesday in Lang Son province, some 150 kilometers (93 miles) north of Hanoi, the Communist Party newspaper Nhan Dan (People) said. Court officials were not available for comment Thursday.

The paper quoted Thanh as telling the judges that she was hired by a Vietnamese man to transport the heroin across the border. She was arrested by border guards in November last year, the AP reports. Thanh has 15 days to appeal her sentence.

Vietnam has one of toughest drug laws in the world. Possessing, trading or trafficking 600 grams (1.32 pounds) of heroin or 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of opium are punishable by death. About 100 people are sentenced to death in Vietnam each year on drug-related offenses. A.M.