Pubdate: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 Source: Reuters FOUR TO FACE FIRING SQUAD IN VIETNAM DRUG CASE HANOI (Reuters) -- Four people have been sentenced to death by firing squad for trafficking heroin through Vietnam from Laos, a court official said today. The two Laotians and two Vietnamese were convicted in a four-day trial which ended on Friday morning, the official from the People's Court in the central province of Ha Tinh said. Three other defendants, including two Laotians and two women, were handed life sentences. An eighth person was sentenced for five years, the official said. ``There was 7.2 kg (15.8 pounds) of heroin seized for the prosecution's evidence,'' the court official said by telephone. The convicted stood accused of bringing around 110 pounds of heroin into Vietnam from neighboring Laos since 1996. All eight of the defendants were arrested and detained by April last year. The court official did not say why the eight people had been detained for so long before going on trial, but in Vietnam it is common for people to be held pending further investigations. Trafficking as little as 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of heroin is punishable by life imprisonment or death in Vietnam. Last year, 22 people including former law enforcement officers were convicted in the country's biggest drug case to date for their roles in a drug syndicate that brought large amounts of heroin and opium into Vietnam from the infamous Golden Triangle. Heroin is derived from opium. Seven were sentenced to death and were simultaneously executed by a 35-man firing squad in March. An eighth person had her death sentence commuted to life imprisonment after President Tran Duc Luong granted clemency. The Golden Triangle, which covers parts of Laos, Myanmar (Burma), southwestern China and northern Thailand, is one of the world's major opium growing and heroin refining areas. Vietnam and Cambodia have become increasingly important international trafficking routes. Three more men, including two former law enforcement officers, have been sentenced to death in the last two weeks for trafficking heroin, in three trials by a Hanoi court. - --- Checked-by: Melodi Cornett