Vietnam sentences 11 to death, jails 200 in drug trafficking case

HANOI: A Vietnam court on Thursday (Sep 3) sentenced 11 people to death and jailed more than 200 others for trafficking illegal drugs in toothpaste tubes from France and related charges, state media said.Vietnam has some of the toughest drug laws in the world and courts routinely hand out death sentences for drug convictions.The drug-smuggling operation involved Vietnamese flight attendants and other Vietnamese living in France who transported concealed synthetic drugs to Vietnam on flights or via global shipping services, state media said.In one of the country's largest mass convictions in a single drug case, 227 people were sentenced, including 11 given the death penalty and 19 condemned to life in prison, according to the Tuoi Tre news site. The ringleader, who was tried in absentia, wa