Australian woman arrested with heroin Vietnam

Jul 15, 2008, 3:51 GMT

Hanoi, - Police in Vietnam arrested an Australian woman of Vietnamese origin for smuggling heroin, raising the number of Australians arrested in the country for drug crimes to five in more than a month, an official said Tuesday.

Nguyen Thanh Huyen, 22, was arrested at Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday night after customs officers found more than 73 grams of heroin in her underwear, according to Ly Dai Bang, chief of the city's anti-narcotics force.

The official said Huyen was en route from Hanoi to Sydney, passing through Ho Chi Minh City.

Last month, police in the city arrested four other Vietnamese Australian women for trafficking heroin. Two of them were arrested after police found them hiding heroin in body cavities.

'Thanks to information exchange with Australian authorities, we have been able to detect more heroin trafficking cases with the involvement of Australian people,' Bang said.

Trafficking or transporting 600 grams or more of heroin is punishable by death in Vietnam.

Several Vietnamese-Australians have been sentenced to death in recent years for drug crimes. So far, none has been executed and several have had their sentences commuted to life in prison.

Vietnam courts have sentenced at least 28 people to death, including 13 for drug crimes, in 2008.