A court in Vietnam handed down death penalties on three local people and life imprisonment sentences on six others for the charges of trafficking drugs and weapons, local media reported Tuesday.

The People's Court of northern Tuyen Quang province on Monday passed the death sentences on three middle-aged men, Truong Phat Hoa from northern Ha Giang province, and Pham Van Duong and Pham Van Tuan from Hanoi capital, the life sentences on six people, and imprisonment sentences on several others, including police and border officers from northern Ha Giang province, said Pioneer newspaper.

The convicts traded a total of more than 838 kg of opium, nearly 3.2 kg of heroin and 70 handguns from 1995 until their arrests in late 2004. The drug and weapon trafficking ring operated in some northern localities and was detected in Tuyen Quang.

Under Vietnam's laws, anyone possessing, trading or trafficking heroin of 600 grams or above can be sentenced to death or life in prison.

The number of drug addicts in Vietnam surged 56.8 percent to 158,428 in 2005 from 101,036 in 2000, according to a recent national conference.

Source: Xinhua