A court in southern Vietnam has sentenced five people to death for heroin trafficking.

State-run Tuoi Tre newspaper said today that the five were convicted in Ho Chi Minh City of trafficking 15lb of heroin from neighbouring Cambodia to Vietnam.

The newspaper said three others received life imprisonment on the same charges at the end of the three-day trial by Ho Chi Minh City People's Court.

The court also handed down jail terms ranging from seven to 20 years against six other defendants.

About 100 people are sentenced to death each year for drug-related offences in Vietnam, where trafficking or possessing 1.3lb of heroin is punishable by death.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.