Vietnamese, Taiwanese found guilty, sentenced for heroin trafficking

Tainan, May 30 (CNA) A Vietnamese man and his Taiwanese accomplice were given 10- and 17-year sentences Thursday after being found guilty of transporting heroin, an offense that by law is normally punishable only by death or life imprisonment.

The sentences were handed down by the Tainan District Court, which found grounds for coming off the mandatory sentences for Vietnamese national Le Khac Duc and Taiwanese defendant Hsiang Chih-sheng (向志盛) based on circumstances in the case that dates back to late 2024.

In a statement Thursday, the court said Le did not get the standard sentence for transporting heroin, classified in Taiwan as a category one narcotic under the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act, because he admitted to the crime during the investigation and the trial.

The Vietnamese national's more lenient sentence was also because the heroin did not enter the market and cause further harm, and also in consideration of the challenges a foreign national could face in prison in Taiwan, the court said.

Le was arrested by a policeman disguised as a deliveryman in Tainan on Nov. 13 when he signed for a DHL delivery of a coffee table from Laos, in which the heroin was stashed, the court said in a statement Thursday.

The heroin, weighing 5.2 kilograms, was first spotted in the DHL shipment by customs officials at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Nov. 4, according to the court.

Le said the heroin was sent by another Vietnamese man named Truong Ba Long, who contacted him and Hsiang about the drug trafficking scheme, according to the statement.

Truong asked Hsiang to help with customs clearance required for the shipment sent from Laos on Oct. 30, because of Le's poor Chinese, the convicted Vietnamese told the investigators and the court.

Meanwhile, Hsiang, who denied his involvement, was found guilty of drug transporting and given 17 years in prison, also because the heroin did not enter Taiwan's market, the court said.

The court determined that the Taiwanese man was not involved in plotting the crime or taking delivery, but only assisted with customs clearance procedures, according to the statement.

The district court's ruling can be appealed.