Vietnamese American gets death sentence for drug trafficking

The HCM City People's Court sentenced a Vietnamese American to death yesterday for transporting drugs illegally.

Dinh Jason, 41, was found trying to smuggle over one kilogram of heroin from Viet Nam to Australia on June 12 last year.


The court said that the police found three plastic bags containing the drugs in Dinh's underwear while he was completing procedures to board a flight to Australia at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport. He was arrested immediately.

At the investigation agency, Dinh said that he was sent to Viet Nam to raise money in order to pay a US$20,000 gambling debt to a US-based man. However, when arriving in Viet Nam in June last year, Dinh was told to meet the man in HCM City and he said that he was unable to find a job for Dinh. He requested Dinh to visit Australia for a short period and carry the drugs with him.

The man promised Dinh that if the drugs were brought to Australia successfully, he would absolve Dinh's gambling debt and pay him an additional $10,000