Tran Duc Ngoc received 10 months jail term and Dinh Tien Cong seven months on charges of theft, while Nguyen Van Duc received a suspended sentence for storing or buying illegally obtained property, according to Duc Tho District People’s Court.

On November 10 last year, Ngoc and Cong stole nine dogs from Ha Tinh’s Duc Tho District and the neighboring Nghe An Province’s Nam Dan District using tazers. They then sold these dogs to a restaurant in Duc Tho for VND60,000-70,000 ($2.62-3.05) per kilogram.

The culprits were seized the next day while trying to sell six live dogs weighing a combined 80 kilograms.

Cong and Ngoc spent money from selling dogs on drugs.

Vietnam consumes an estimated five million dogs a year, second only to China's 20 million. Many dogs served at restaurants are stolen pets sold to small, unregulated abattoirs.

Dog theft is treated as a crime only when the stolen dogs are valued at more than VND2 million ($86). Vietnam has no law against trading in and consuming dog meat.