Vietnam court sentences 11 to death in major drug smuggling case involving toothpaste tubes

A Ho Chi Minh City court sentenced 11 people to death and about 20 others to life imprisonment in the largest drug trafficking case in Vietnam’s history on September 3, 2026 ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]}. The case involved 227 defendants connected to a major network that smuggled synthetic drugs hidden inside 157 toothpaste tubes shipped from France to Vietnam ^{[2, 4, 5]}.

Authorities investigated more than 2,700 suspects across 477 cases tied to the network, which had an estimated transaction value of 29 trillion Vietnamese dong, approximately $1.1 billion USD ^{[2, 4, 5]}. The smuggling operation started in early 2023 after customs officials at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City seized over 10 kilograms of drugs hidden inside toothpaste tubes carried by four Vietnam Airlines flight attendants arriving from France in March 2023 ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]}. The flight attendants were cleared of wrongdoing as investigations found they were unaware of the drugs in their luggage ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]}.

The court identified 52-year-old Hà Danh Nậm as the ringleader, describing him as the key figure coordinating several branches of the network through encrypted communication and fake bank accounts to evade authorities ^{[2, 4, 5]}. “Ha Danh Nam was involved in several branches of the operation and is the key figure of the drug trafficking network,” the court said in a statement reported by VnExpress ^[2].

Apart from those sentenced to death and life imprisonment, the remaining defendants received prison terms ranging from 18 months probation to 29 years ^{[1, 3, 4, 5]}. Several Vietnamese celebrities, including singer Chi Dân and model An Tây, were prosecuted for lesser offenses related to the case ^{[4, 5]}.

Vietnam applies strict drug laws and widely uses the death penalty for drug trafficking offenses. Since 2013, executions have been carried out by lethal injection instead of firing squad ^{[1, 3]}. Although Vietnam is considering legal reforms to abolish the death penalty for some crimes including drug offenses, those reforms had not been enacted as of sentencing ^{[3, 5]}.