In response to appeals lodged by five defendants, the court upheld death sentences given to Nguyen Minh Tuan, Nguyen Van Can and Le Manh Luong and the jail term of 23 years to Nguyen Trong Thanh by the people's court of Quang Binh province in November 2006.

The court reduced the jail term for defendant Khuu Bach Nga, wife of Nguyen Minh Tuan, from 19 years to 17 years in prison as her husband will serve the death sentence.

The defendants were also fined a total of VND230 million.

According to the statistics of the investigation police agency, members of this transnational illegal drug trafficking ring have smuggled 970 cakes of heroin and 5,000 tablets of ecstasy.

The case was uncovered on October 25, 2004. After two years' investigation, eight members of the ring were brought to court. They are Tran Van Hoi, born in 1972 in Nghe An province; Nguyen Minh Tuan, born in 1968 in Long An province; Nguyen Van Can, born in 1933 in Thailand; Le Manh Luong, born in 1960 in Hai Phong and now a British citizen, Tran Thi Hien, born in 1959 in Vietnam and now a British citizen; Khuu Bach Nga, born in 1966 in Ho Chi Minh City; Nguyen Trong Thanh, born in 1963 in Quang Ninh province; and Hoang Van Tinh, born in 1959 in Quang Binh province.