A court in Vietnam sentenced four local men to death and one to life in prison for trafficking nearly 31 kg of heroin, Vietnam News Agency reported Tuesday.

The People's Court of northern Bac Giang province on Tuesday also gave an imprisonment sentence of 20 years to each of two other drug traffickers. The seven local people aged 28-42 from Bac Giang and northern Lang Son province traded 30.8 kg of heroin and one gram of amphatemine from late 2003 till their arrest in January 2004.

A 37-year-old man alone, Than Nhan Lam from Bac Giang, bought a total of 10 kg of heroin and 0.5 grams of amphetamine in the two northern provinces of Son La and Hoa Binh, and then sold the drugs in some other northern localities. He and his 28-year-old brother were sentenced to death.

In Vietnam, trafficking more than 600 grams of heroin is punishable by death or life imprisonment.

Source: Xinhua