The Hanoi People’s Court on Tuesday passed a death sentence on a 30-year-old man from Vietnam’s Hanoi capital for trafficking over 230.5 kg of heroin and illegally possessing military weapons.

The court handed down the death sentence on Bui Van Bien, who was arrested in May after months of fleeing.

In April, the court passed eight death sentences and three life imprisonment sentences on 11 accomplices of Bien, including Nguyen Van Tinh, for the charge of drug trafficking.

In mid-September, Tinh, 28, from Hanoi, escaped from a detention centre in the capital city, but was re-captured six days later.

Bien and Tinh were members of a trans-provincial drug trafficking ring led by a 44-year-old woman named Dang Minh Chau from northern Lang Son province.

Chau and her accomplices successfully traded over 303,5kg of heroin, with a large volume of the drug being hidden in gas cylinders, and illegally possessed two handguns and dozens of bullets.

According to Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilogrammes of methamphetamine are punishable by death.

Making or trading 100 grammes of heroin or 300 grammes of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty. (Xinhua/NAN)

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