Six Hmong-Viet sentenced to death for heroin trafficking

HANOI - Six Vietnamese ethnic Hmong have been condemned to death in Vietnam for trafficking heroin to China, a court official said Wednesday.

The men, aged between 23 and 44, were accused of transporting 18.48 kilograms of heroin between 2006 and their arrest in September 2008, said the official in the northwest province of Lai Chau, where the trial ended on Tuesday.

"They confessed to having sold to China all the heroin" bought in Son La province which borders Laos, he said.

In communist Vietnam, anyone found guilty of possessing more than 600 grams of heroin can face the death penalty.

Last year nine people were executed and 59 sentenced to death, mostly for murder and drug cases, according to an AFP tally based on state media reports.

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