25-year-old Nigerian sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Vietnam

For transporting three kilograms of methamphetamine from Cambodia to Vietnam, a 25-year-old Nigerian was sentenced to death.

On Tuesday, April 13, Unachukwu Chiluba Paulinus was convicted in a court in the southwestern province of Tay Ninh.

On February 19, 2020, he was apprehended while illegally transporting narcotic drugs in the Ta Pheng region of Thuan Tay hamlet in Loi Thuan commune, Ben Cau district.

Unachukwu informed police that he arrived in Cambodia in 2019 and met Oscar, an African man who hired him to transport drugs from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City for 2,000 USD. He received a payment of 650 USD in advance.

After taking a taxi from Phnom Penh to the border, he crossed into Vietnam and was apprehended by police in the Ben Cau area.

He also confessed to having earlier transported a backpack containing drugs from Cambodia to HCM City, which he delivered to an unknown man.

This comes a few days after 45-year-old Ekwegbalu James Nzube, another Nigerian was also sentenced to death for trafficking nearly four kilograms of methamphetamine.

Nzube said he got acquainted with another Nigerian, Jone, in China in 2014 and the latter had hired him to transport drugs from Cambodia to Vietnam.

He said he went to Ho Chi Minh City in March before going to Cambodia to get the drugs for which he was paid $2,000.

Vietnam has one of the world’s toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600g of heroin or 2.5kg methamphetamine face the death penalty. (Agency report)