January 10

 Vietnamese Convicted for Drugs

HANOI, Vietnam  - Four Vietnamese were sentenced to death by firing squad Thursday for smuggling and selling heroin from neighboring Laos, a court official said. Thirteen others were given prison sentences.

The 17 suspects admitted to smuggling a total of 15.4 pounds of heroin on 11 occasions from March 1998 until their arrests in February, the court official in the central province of Ha Tinh said.

Four were sentenced to death, five were given life sentences and eight others received prison terms ranging from 13 to 20 years, he said.

Also Thursday, a court in neighboring Nghe An province began trying 23 others also accused of trafficking heroin and opium from Laos, a court official said.

The group is accused of smuggling 88 pounds of heroin and 544 pounds of opium from Laos between 1995 and September 1999, the official said. Police seized $140,000 and 244 ounces of gold from suspected drug traffickers.

The accused ringleader, 41-year-old Nguyen Duc Luong, also is suspected of growing opium at his farm, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces have become notorious for drug smuggling since a massive government crackdown in the northern province of Lai Chau in 1995.

Most of the heroin smuggled into Vietnam comes from China and the Golden Triangle, the spot where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar converge.

Vietnam has some of the world's toughest penalties for drug-related crimes. Trading, possessing or trafficking more than 31/2 ounces of heroin or 11 ounces of opium are punishable by death.

Courts sentenced 55 people to death last year on drug-related charges, according to government figures.