Nine men have been sentenced to death for drug trafficking in a local Vietnamese court.

According to state-run newspaper Tuoi Tre, the court in Hoa Binh province also sentenced nine others to life imprisonment.

The remaining four members of the drug ring received between 17 to 20 years in jail.

Their crime was trafficking close to 500 kilograms of heroin from Laos, through Vietnam to be sold in China.

The ring ran between 2012 to 2015, and reportedly made profits of nearly $880,000 dollars.

Vietnam’s anti-drug laws are some of the world toughest.

Anyone possessing more than 600 grams of heroin or 20 kilograms of opium can face the death penalty.

– TiVi Tuan-san