Nguyen Thanh Hung, 43, Phuong A Xuan, 34, Co Dai Luan, 36, Nguyen Thi Cam Hong, 28, and Le Duc Tai, 52, were found guilty of illegally possessing and trading narcotics.

Truong Do Hoang Yen, 27, got eight years for illegally possessing narcotics.

In 2014 Hung, who was living in the city's Tan Binh District, set up a debt collection group together with several people with criminal records.

A few years later he switched to trading drugs from a source in District 4.

In 2019 he formed his own trafficking gang, which went to Cambodia to look for sources.

He managed to buy from Sang, who would deliver the drugs at the border in Tay Ninh Province, a HCMC's neighbor.

From April 6 to April 9, 2020, Hung bought drugs multiple times from Sang and his wife.

He hired Xuan and Luan to hide and sell the drugs, and Tai and Hong were the main people to receive them from Cambodia.

On April 9, 2020, police officers saw Luan riding a motorbike alongside a car and receiving a package. Later they saw Tai receive a two-kilogram bag of drugs from Luan.

A search of Hung’s residence in Hoc Mon in HCMC and those of other suspects turned up 16 kg of drugs.

Vietnam is a key trafficking hub for narcotics despite having some of the world’s toughest drug laws.

Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of meth face the death penalty.

The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death.