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Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

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Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

Bangladesh seeks death penalty for methamphetamine traffickers

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Meth
Bangladesh seized more than 40 million methamphetamine pills in 2017.

DHAKA: Bangladesh wants to punish methamphetamine traffickers with the death penalty, officials said Thursday, as authorities confront the growing popularity of the dangerous and addictive drug.

The proposal to crack down on the spread of methamphetamine comes after Bangladesh seized more than 40 million pills of the narcotic in 2017 – double the previous year.

Authorities want to elevate methamphetamine to a Class A banned substance, meaning traffickers would face the death penalty instead of life behind bars.

Bangladesh law enforcement say the drugs are smuggled across Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar.

Jamaluddin Ahmed, the head of Bangladesh’s narcotics control department, said traffickers had been more active since August, when Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar began pouring into Bangladesh.

Gangs had been using the Rohingya as mules and hiding drugs in fishing boats used to ferry the persecuted Muslims to safety.

Raids of fishing boats have uncovered huge hauls of the drug.

Authorities said last week that nine million methamphetamine tablets were seized in less than three months as the refugee influx reached its peak. Nearly two million pills were discovered in a single haul.

Towfique Uddin Ahmed, a director at the narcotics control department, said authorities estimate US$600 million (RM2.3 billion) worth of methamphetamine could be sold on Bangladesh’s streets this year.

One senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “drastic action” like the violent crackdown on drug users and dealers in the Philippines could be needed to stamp out the drug.

“Some (traffickers) should be put in the crosshairs. We have come to that point,” he said.

Source: Agence France-Presse, April 5, 2018


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Location: Bangladesh
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