Record drugs trial in Vietnam

Nguyen Van Tam was alleged ringleader

Twenty-two people have gone on trial in Vietnam's biggest drugs case, charged with smuggling heroin and opium from neighbouring Laos.

The defendants are accused of trafficking in 276kg of heroin and 289kg of opium between 1992 and 1999. Many of them face the death penalty if convicted.

Thousands of people gathered outside the court building in the northern town of Nam Dinh to follow the case over loudspeakers.

Reports said those in the dock included at least four women and a number of "security officials" - a category that includes border guards, customs officers, soldiers and police officers.

Gold

Police reportedly uncovered the smuggling operation when they found two packs of heroin hidden in an eight-year-old girl's backpack in Nam Dinh, south of the capital Hanoi, in October 1998.

The syndicate, which was allegedly masterminded by Nguyen Van Tam, 46, and his nephew Nguyen Van Quyet, 28, is said to have involved a network of up to 120 people in 15 provinces.

Vietnam is a trafficking route from the Golden Triangle

Mr Tam was arrested last March at his home in Hanoi. Police seized $441,000 in cash, a quantity of gold and his house which they said were the profits of trafficking.

Three of the 22 defendants have already been sentenced to death in other drug cases.

Police said one of the accused had attempted to commit suicide ahead of the trial which is expected to last for 12 days.

Foreign media have been barred from attending the hearing.

Penalties

Vietnam toughened its penalties on drug crimes in 1997 when it made trafficking in 100 grams of heroin punishable by death or life imprisonment.

The number of addicts appears to be rising in Vietnam

But narcotics-related crimes have not declined. The number of people arrested on drug charges last year increased by 21% from 1998, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The state-run media said courts sentenced at least 86 people to death in drug cases last year, up sharply from the previous record of 57 in 1998.

Vietnam has been identified by anti-drug agencies as a key trafficking route from the Golden Triangle opium-growing region which covers parts of Burma, Laos, Thailand and south-west China.

The triangle is the world's second largest source of heroin after Afghanistan.