A South African man who was found guilty of trafficking nearly 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of cocaine, has been sentenced to death in Vietnam.
Coetzee Tyron Lee who was convicted in a half-day trial in a court in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, was arrested in June 2016 upon arriving at the city’s Tan Son Nhat international airport after officials found the drug in his bag.
The South African man who told investigators that he was hired by a Nigerian man to transport the drug for $3,500 which would be paid after his arrival in Vietnam, was in tears after the judge passed his judgement.
But in court he claimed the backback was not his and was only “inside my bag,” further claiming he didn’t know drug trafficking was illegal in Vietnam. He also claimed to be schizophrenic, and was granted a postponement so he could receive psychiatric testing.
