Vu Dinh Kien, 25, Tran Manh Chung, 30, Tran Duc Thanh, 30 and Ly A Sua, 27 were part of a drug ring that would collect drugs from Son La, which borders Laos, and take them to the nearby Hoa Binh Province and other localities, media reports said.

Last Friday, Kien and Chung hid 100 packets of heroin, each weighing 330 grams, inside the trunk of a car and were driving it through Mai Chau District of Hoa Binh. Thanh and Sua drove another vehicle in front to look out for the police. But they were arrested in the district’s Dong Bang Commune.

The number of drug busts in Vietnam is rising after the country has become a key trafficking hub for narcotics from the Golden Triangle, an intersection of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, the world's second largest drug producing area after the Golden Crescent in South Asia.

The trafficking and drug abuse numbers are increasing despite Vietnam’s tough drug laws, under which those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or cocaine or more than 2.5 kg of meth face the death penalty.

The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death.