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Six sentenced to death in HCMC for drug trafficking
By Hoang Phong January 13, 2021 | 05:00 pm GMT+7

Eight members of a drug trafficking gang are at a trial in HCMC, January 12, 2020. Photo courtesy of Phap Luat TPHCM Newspaper.
A court in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday sentenced six drug traffickers to death for smuggling 13.8 kilograms of synthetic drugs and ketamine from Cambodia into the city.

Nguyen Thanh Phat, 33, identified as the ringleader, and his five accomplices, aged between 27 and 29, were delivered death sentences while two others received a jail term of 20 years each, Phap Luat TPHCM (HCMC Laws) newspaper reported.

All were found guilty of "illegal trading and trafficking of narcotic substances."

According to the indictment, in September 2019 police raided an apartment in District 7 and found over seven kilograms of synthetic drugs and ketamine hidden in the living room and other areas. Officers arrested Phat and his accomplices shortly after.

Expanding the investigation, police discovered the ring led by Phat had transported a total 13.3 kilograms of drugs from Cambodia by coach into HCMC before distributing them to customers.
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/six-s ... 20351.html

Several years ago while living in Vietnam there were more than 500 inmates on death row. The death sentence at the time could not be excercised because the ingredients for the drug cocktail were stopped by the EU. When asked the Amnesty International Office what they do on this issue they replied that they had no representation in Vietnam....., End of the Story !
Those on death row said they'd rather be put to death than waiting every day with uncertainty, perhaps pretty much like Lisa Montgomery that was put to death in the US last Wednesday after murdering a woman in 2004 https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-carries-1 ... 31031.html.

The death sentence in Vietnam has done little to change Criminality there. I experienced ruthless Gangsters that would kick off Women off their Scooter and rob them in the middle of a heavy traffic in HCM for example. Most cases are Drug Related.

Death sentence may be a last resort of a legal system but deliver a sentence and wait 16 years to carry it out is a DOUBLE DEATH Sentence to me. I am totally against the Death Sentence, no matter what.

After the supposed-coup/counter-coup in Indonesia in 1975 the victors (Suharto's generals) devised a special kind of punishment for the "communist" leaders -

25 years solitary, then the firing squad.
The extra exquisite torture they added - on any one day in the last five years of incarceration, the cell door would be opened and they would be led off to their execution without any warning.
20 years solitary, then 5 years (or one day) of going to bed every night wondering if you would wake up in front of a firing squad next morning. Sick.

That is a bit worse than the legal tortures and false hope and meaningless hoops that USA engages in. But not much.
That insane woman was offered false hope on Tuesday then dragged from her cell on Wednesday.
Sick.

At least Cambodia is fully on board with the rest of the civilised world regarding this barbaric practice.
Not right up there with China and Iran.

Its an interesting situation from a philosophical viewpoint. On one hand, the whole world agrees that it is ok to arm young men and send them off to kill other young men, and any civilians who get in the way, all of whom are innocent of any crime, for the sake of political expediency. On the other hand, most of the world says it is not ok to kill people who have committed serious crimes that can result in danger to society - murder, drugs, etc. Can we have it both ways? Apparently so. We glorify killers in uniform (heroic medals awarded to snipers with high kill ratios etc) yet we protest about the death sentence of a mass murderer. What a strange bunch we all are. Killing is either right or wrong - let's make up our minds!

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 4:22 am After the supposed-coup/counter-coup in Indonesia in 1975 the victors (Suharto's generals) devised a special kind of punishment for the "communist" leaders -

25 years solitary, then the firing squad.
The extra exquisite torture they added - on any one day in the last five years of incarceration, the cell door would be opened and they would be led off to their execution without any warning.
20 years solitary, then 5 years (or one day) of going to bed every night wondering if you would wake up in front of a firing squad next morning. Sick.

That is a bit worse than the legal tortures and false hope and meaningless hoops that USA engages in. But not much.
That insane woman was offered false hope on Tuesday then dragged from her cell on Wednesday.
Sick.

At least Cambodia is fully on board with the rest of the civilised world regarding this barbaric practice.
Not right up there with China and Iran.

How many of those "communist leaders" where actually executed after 20-25 years?

If I ever manage to become a right wing dictator ( ) and I had all my political enemies vanquished and in prison, I wouldn't waste time in dispatching them to meet their maker; Trial - Verdict - BANG. If you hang about too long all sorts of nosey do-gooders from abroad will make trouble. Better to get it over with quickly.

Remember, James Bond was frequently in the clutches of the evil ones, Dr No, Scaramanga and the bloke with the cat, and they all devised diabolical ways to kill him, and all failed. They could of just shot him when they first met him.

@doc67 Never thought you were a sympathizer of the trumpist kind. Triggerhappy eyh ?

Fact is, if you get caught smuggling drugs from Cambodia to Vietnam, you better hope that you get caught in Cambodia - life sentence as opposed to death sentence.

Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine face the death penalty in Vietnam. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is likewise punishable.

Doc67 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 9:26 am

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 4:22 am After the supposed-coup/counter-coup in Indonesia in 1975 the victors (Suharto's generals) devised a special kind of punishment for the "communist" leaders -

25 years solitary, then the firing squad.
The extra exquisite torture they added - on any one day in the last five years of incarceration, the cell door would be opened and they would be led off to their execution without any warning.
20 years solitary, then 5 years (or one day) of going to bed every night wondering if you would wake up in front of a firing squad next morning. Sick.

That is a bit worse than the legal tortures and false hope and meaningless hoops that USA engages in. But not much.
That insane woman was offered false hope on Tuesday then dragged from her cell on Wednesday.
Sick.

At least Cambodia is fully on board with the rest of the civilised world regarding this barbaric practice.
Not right up there with China and Iran.

How many of those "communist leaders" where actually executed after 20-25 years?

If I ever manage to become a right wing dictator ( ) and I had all my political enemies vanquished and in prison, I wouldn't waste time in dispatching them to meet their maker; Trial - Verdict - BANG. If you hang about too long all sorts of nosey do-gooders from abroad will make trouble. Better to get it over with quickly.

Remember, James Bond was frequently in the clutches of the evil ones, Dr No, Scaramanga and the bloke with the cat, and they all devised diabolical ways to kill him, and all failed. They could of just shot him when they first met him.

I'm not sure what 1975 counter-coup Mr Stern is referring to. However I think this documentary about conflict in 1960s Indonesia is one of the best I have ever seen, and the cinematography is mind-blowing. Check it out:

Quite right JB, 'slip of the pen. Of course, it was 1965.
And yes "The Act of Killing" ^^^ is a very very powerful film. It lead to the first widespread discussion within Indonesia of that terrible episode.
Long overdue, most of the population was born after the events and they they didn't have much of a clue. And the participants on both sides had never had a chance to talk about it in public.
Well worth watching.

500,000 - 1 mill slaughtered - according to the CIA official history and Congressional record.
(Amongst other assistance from the USA, the CIA helped prepare and distribute a list of 5,000 leaders, then followed each case thru to ensure the knife job was done)
Most were not in fact not communists at all. Trade union leaders, HR people, democrats etc.)

And yes Doc, this was not a James Bond movie, many were executed.
Some of the leaders under the circumstances i describe. As late as 1978 i believe.
Suharto was not worried about outside threats from human rights meddlers etc. He knew who was covering his arse.

But if you do ever become a real dictator, Doc - i want to be captured by you.
I deserve a speedy execution i reckon.

Fact is despite the death sentence in Vietnam for drug offences I have never lived anywhere where it was easier to pick up any narcotic I wanted (excluding cocaine).

When I lived in Saigon I was a junkie and, unlike in London where scoring involved all sorts of minor inconveniences, I mostly picked up from the same place that operated like a shop, open from 5am (which is when I queued up to score with about 20 smackheads) to 10pm, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Easy, cheap and strong quality product that was always the same suggesting it came from the same source for the 5 years I lived there.

And where was this place? Round the back of the police station on De Tham St. Hmmm.....



Furthermore in my decade and a half of addiction not once, ever, did I find myself unable to score heroin because no dealers had any. Not. One. Single. Time.

I don't know how many thousands of transactions 15 odd years of heroin (and to a lesser extent crack) use adds up to but it's alot.

Prohibition has failed, totally, and despite the fact I nearly wrecked my life on opiates and am one of the lucky ones to escape to normal life (and still be able to drink a beer and even use occasionally and not be some mental 12 step twat) I firmly believe in the legalisation of all narcotics; for a plethora of compelling socioeconomic reasons.

It's not an ideal solution. But it is the only solution.