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Eleven defendants were sentenced to death Thursday as a Vietnamese court began handing down penalties in a large drug case that grew from an airport seizure into an investigation involving thousands of suspects.
The VN10 investigation eventually covered more than 2,700 suspects across 477 cases, with transactions connected to the alleged network reaching nearly 29 trillion Vietnamese dong, or about $1.1 billion, according to local media.
At the center of the proceedings were 227 defendants tried before the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on charges ranging from drug trafficking and possession to illegal transportation and organizing drug use.
After a two-week trial, the court imposed death sentences on 11 defendants, including 52-year-old Ha Danh Nam, who was accused of playing a major role across several parts of the trafficking operation.
Hoang Sy Thang and Bui Van Anh, meanwhile, received life sentences after being convicted of illegally transporting drugs. Sentencing for other defendants remained underway.
Authorities traced the wider investigation to a March 2023 discovery at Tan Son Nhat International Airport involving luggage brought into Vietnam on a flight from France.
Customs officers recovered more than eight kilograms of ecstasy as well as over three kilograms of ketamine and cocaine from luggage carried by four flight attendants.
Investigators initially detained the flight attendants but ultimately did not prosecute them after finding insufficient grounds to establish their involvement in the trafficking operation. The discovery nevertheless led authorities to uncover what became one of the country’s extensive drug investigations.