VIETNAM DRUG SMUGGLERS SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER HEROIN HAUL

HANOI: Vietnam has sentenced nine drug traffickers to death for smuggling nearly half a ton of heroin into the country from Laos, a local government report said Wednesday. Nine others were jailed for life over the massive drug bust and “all illegal profits were seized,” according to the official newspaper of the Hoa Binh provincial government. The traffickers smuggled the drugs from neighboring Laos for resale in China and pocketed $670,000 between 2012 and 2016, according to reports. Communist Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest anti- drug laws. Anyone found guilty of possessing more than 600 grams of heroin, or more than 20 kilograms of opium, can face the death penalty.

INDIAN KILLS DAUGHTER IN SUSPECTED ‘ HONOR’ KILLING

NEW DELHI: Indian police Wednesday arrested a man for allegedly murdering his teenage daughter in a so- called honor killing after she was caught dating a local boy he did not approve of. The girl’s father slit her throat and dumped the 15-year- old’s body on the doorstep of her boyfriend’s house in the Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh state, local police officer Shivraj Singh told AFP. The boyfriend allegedly sneaked into the girl’s house early Tuesday but was caught by her mother and handed over to police, Singh said. Her father, learning about the incident, returned home and butchered his daughter with a meat cleaver before leaving her body at the teenager’s home.Both their Muslim families had disapproved of the relationship because the teenagers came from the same caste. Strong beliefs around same- caste pairings have been a motivating factor in many so- called honor killings across India, as have inter- faith relationships.