The Hanoi People's Court today, November 19, began the trial of 21 drug dealers, two of whom allegedly trafficked over 850 kg of heroin from 2000 to 2006 in northern Viet Nam.

37-year-old Luong Ngoc Lap who trafficked nearly 440 kg of heroin

According to prosecutors, over the six years in question, the gang's kingpin, Luong Ngoc Lap, 37, sold over 1,250 bricks of heroin, a total of 438.6 kg, netting some VND30 billion (US$1.87 million).

Lap was arrested and the ring broken up after Ho Chi Minh City police nabbed two pushers, May last year.

Pham Cong Danh, 39, allegedly sold 1,200 bricks weighing 420 kg. Nguyen Thi Thom and Nguyen Luong Dan are charged with trafficking 45.6 kg and 45 kg, respectively.

The gang, considered to be one of the largest apprehended to date in Viet Nam, operated mainly from the cities of Hanoi and Hai Phong and the provinces of Son La, Hoa Binh, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Lang Son and Quang Ninh.

According to prosecutors, the gang would transport up to nine kilos of heroin per trip by car to Lang Son on the border with China. Sometimes, they would make two trips a day every day for a whole week.

Police suspect the gang also had ties with the ecstasy-trafficking gang led by Vietnamese-Australian Nguyen Tuan Khanh, arrested last year.

The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

Under Vietnamese law, trafficking more than 600 grams of heroin is punishable by death or life imprisonment. The smallest amount of smack sold by any of the 21 defendants now facing Viet Nam’s death row was 700 grams.