Vietnam | 11 drug traffickers get death penalty, including 2 officers who used police car to transport drugs

Two former police officers used an official police vehicle to transport drugs, supporting a transnational drug trafficking ring.

HANOI: A court in Hanoi has sentenced 11 people to death, including two former police officers, for their roles in a transnational drug ring that used an official police vehicle to transport narcotics.

The People's Court of Hanoi delivered the verdicts on Wednesday after a two-day trial. The case involved 12 defendants.

Among those sentenced to death were Nguyen Van Hung, a former officer with the Duc Giang Ward Police, and Ha Minh Ducc, a former officer from the Long Bien District Police's narcotics investigation unit. Both were found guilty of the illegal trading of narcotic substances.

For the same charge, nine other defendants were also sentenced to death. They include brothers Nguyen The Thanh and Nguyen The Lap, along with seven subordinates of Thanh and drug lord Nguyen Thi Kim Huong.

Huong, who is raising a young child, received a life sentence instead.

The judging panel characterised the case as exceptionally serious, noting it was a transnational operation involving a massive quantity of drugs.

The ring used sophisticated tactics to evade authorities, including using an official police vehicle to transport drugs and hiding narcotics in the homes of officials. This made the investigation difficult.

According to the indictment, Thanh established a partnership with Ha Ba Vu, a supplier in Laos, to arrange the purchase and transport of the drugs.

Thanh was responsible for receiving the shipments from Vu’s contacts and bringing them to Hanoi. Another defendant, Dung, was then tasked with finding buyers.

In early 2019, Dung recruited Huong into the operation, assuring Thanh that she had a powerful distribution network. He claimed her connections with police officers would shield their sales from authorities, prompting the trio to form a transnational drug ring.

The group adhered to a strict “no direct contact” policy. They coordinated over the phone using coded phrases, such as “Hu huut”, and used signals like flashlight beams to mark drop-off points where drugs were concealed in bushes.

Authorities determined that between April 2019 and January 2021, the ring trafficked nearly 137kg of narcotics in Hanoi and Bac Ninh.

Thanh and Dung were the ringleaders, earning over VND8 billion (US$315,000) while Huong received and distributed nearly 134.8kg of drugs, making more than VND4 billion (US$157,000) in illicit profit.

Hung – the former police officer - was found to have helped Huong and her accomplices traffic over 37kg of methamphetamine, profiting VND740 million (US$29,000).

In April 2019, when a delivery included 30 kg of meth and 400 packets of meth pills, Thanh’s team concealed the drugs in a wooden cabinet and a large vacuum cleaner.

Huong called Hưng to borrow a vehicle, and he used a patrol car from Duc Giang Ward Police to transport the drugs to her rental house. Later, when the rental became insecure, Huong asked Hưng to store the drugs in his garage, and he agreed. He also helped her meet the wife of another police officer to rent a “safe house” for drug storage.

Duc – the former police officer - was found to have aided Huong in trafficking nearly 135kg of drugs, gaining VND1.4 billion (US$55,000) in return.

Source: The Star, Staff, July 3, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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