Vietnam Sentences 11 to Death in $1.1 Billion Drug Case

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court on Sept. 3 sentenced 11 people to death for illegal drug trafficking in the VN10 case, one of the largest narcotics networks Vietnamese authorities say they have dismantled. Ha Danh Nam, 52, from Nghe An Province, was convicted as the ringleader and fined an additional VND100 million (US$3,800). He was tried in absentia, having never been in custody, and is one of four defendants still subject to arrest warrants. The other 10 sentenced to death were fined VND50-100 million each. Another 19 defendants received life terms, among them Hoang Sy Thang, 39, and his nephew-in-law Bui Van Anh, both from Nghe An, who ran the network's main storage point and were convicted of illegal transport of narcotics. Illegal transport has carried a maximum of life since Vietnam's amended Penal Code removed the death penalty for it on July 1, 2025. Capital punishment remains available for trafficking. Singer Chi Dan, whose legal name is Nguyen Trung Hieu, was sentenced to seven years for organizing illegal drug use. Nguyen Do Truc Phuong, a social media figure known for her charity work, received six years on the same count. Model Andrea Aybar Carmona, a Spanish national who works in Vietnam under the name An Tay, was given eight years, combining seven years for organizing illegal drug use with one year for possession. The remaining defendants among the 227 tried received terms ranging from 18 months suspended to 29 years. The indictment covered eight groups of offenses, also including possession, use of forged documents, failure to report a crime, concealing a crime and unlawful appropriation of property. Most defendants confessed and expressed remorse, while Nam, the three other absent defendants and Vu Hai Anh denied wrongdoing. The trial opened Aug. 17 under Vu Thanh Lam, head of the court's criminal division, with six prosecutors and more than 120 defense lawyers working from an indictment running to over 350 pages. Proceedings were held partly by video link to Chi Hoa Detention Center, where most defendants were held, and finished nine days ahead of schedule. The panel acknowledged gaps in the investigation record, including inconsistencies in how interview times and locations were logged, but found they did not alter the substance of the case. Hidden in toothpaste tubes In early January 2023, Nam hired Thang, a driver from his home province, to receive parcels from abroad in which narcotics were concealed inside toothpaste tubes and packed among consumer goods. Thang brought in Anh, his nephew-in-law, to collect and deliver them. Six consignments reached Thang's hub in Dong Nai before the March 2023 seizure. Thang divided the drugs and directed Anh to pass them to distributors in Ho Chi Minh City and the former Binh Duong Province, with couriers paid between VND6 million and VND50 million ($230-1,900) a run. Nam also moved drugs into Vietnam through international express delivery, sending parcels from France to Hanoi for onward distribution. He ran the money through a bank account registered in his son's name. Voice analysis and identification by other defendants established him as the man issuing instructions, despite his denials. Nguyen Huy Hoang, one of those sentenced to death, headed a branch that distributed and sold large quantities of the drugs Nam supplied. Drugs were disguised inside everyday goods and moved through consignment and courier services, the court found. Members coordinated over encrypted messaging apps and settled payments through accounts opened in other people's names. The trial panel during the hearing of the VN10 drug case. Photo by Pham Hai From four suitcases to a $1.1 billion network Customs officers at Tan Son Nhat Airport flagged irregularities on a baggage scanner on the morning of March 16, 2023, while screening Vietnam Airlines flight VN10 from Paris. In the suitcases of four flight attendants they found 327 toothpaste tubes, 157 of which held 8.3 kg of MDMA and nearly 3 kg of ketamine. The attendants had agreed to carry about 60 kg of consumer goods back from France for 6.5 euros (US$7.40) a kilogram. Investigators found no grounds for criminal action against them, concluding they had no contact with Nam or Thang and did not know what the tubes contained. Ho Chi Minh City police took the flight number as the codename for the investigation that followed. Officers describe VN10 as the largest drug case in the country's history, with transaction flows traced at nearly VND29 trillion ($1.1 billion) across close to 500 branches and sub-branches in 34 provinces and cities. Seizures ran to nearly 600 kg of narcotics along with 12 firearms, 67 rounds of ammunition and three grenades. More than 2,700 people have been named as accused across 477 cases spun out of the investigation. The verdict delivered Sept. 3 covered 227 of them. Subsidiary of VnExpress License number: 71/GP-CBC, Ministry of Information andCommunications, September 22, 2021 Editor-in-Chief: Pham Van Hieu Email: [email protected]: 028 7300 9999 - Ext 8556 10th floor, Block A FPT Tower, 10 Pham Van Bach, Cau Giay Ward, Hanoi