VietNamNet Bridge - At midnight, Vietnamese police discovered in the luggage of a Nigerian man, dozens of plastic bags containing white crystalline solids, which was then determined as narcotics, totaling 3.2kg.

On August 19, Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced defendant Ejiogu Benjamin Ikechukkwu (31, Nigerian national) the death penalty on charges of "illegal transportation of narcotics."

According to the indictment, at 10pm on June 23, 2012, on a flight from Qatar to HCM City, Tan Son Nhat airport authorities detected in the luggage of passenger Ejiogu Benjamin Ikechukkwu, a total of 19 plastic bags containing white crystalline, suspected as drugs. The testing results showed that the 19 plastic bags contained 3.28 kg of narcotics.

Ejiogu confessed himself as a garment trader. In June 2012, know that Ejiogu was about to enter Vietnam to buy clothes, a man named Onyekachi, about 35 years old, unknown background, got acquainted with Ejiogu. He then asked Ejiogu to ship his goods to Vietnam and give to someone at the Sunrise hotel in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. However, Ejiogu was discovered and seized by Vietnamese police at the airport.

In court, Ejiogu admitted the indictment but he insisted that he did not know that the goods were drugs and he was only a hired transporter.

However, the panel found sufficient grounds to conclude that Ejiogu Ikechukkwu Benjamin was guilty of "illegal transportation of narcotics," with a big drug quantity so it should be treated seriously.

Since then, Ejiogu Benjamin Ikechukkwu was sentenced to death.

M.Phuong