HANOI, Jan 22 (Reuters) - A court in Vietnam on Monday sentenced nine people to death after being convicted of involvement in one of the country's largest drug traf#@*%!ing cases in months, state media reported.


They were found guilty of traf#@*%!ing 105 kg (231.49 lb) of methamphetamine and heroine from Laos to Vietnam from 2021 until early 2022 when the ring was busted, online newspaper VnExpress reported. Reuters could not immediately reach their lawyers for comment.

Vietnam has among the world's toughest narcotics laws, where anyone found guilty of traf#@*%!ing 100 grams or more of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, or amphetamine face the death penalty.

Drug traf#@*%!ing remains widespread, however, with 41,400 suspects arrested in 26,469 cases last year, up from 36,000 traf#@*%!ers and 24,000 cases in 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Public Security.

In November, a court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced to death 18 people, including two South Koreans and a Chinese citizen, in a trans-national case in which they were accused of moving 216 kg of drugs from Cambodia to Vietnam in 2020, with part of that bound for South Korea.


"Drug traf#@*%!ing activities are taking place in a complicated manner on the land, air and sea channels," the ministry said in a statement. (Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by Martin Petty)