The Vientiane Provincial People’s Court sentenced one man to death and handed prison terms to two others in separate drug cases on 2 April, in an ongoing effort to curb narcotics trafficking.
Xayphone, 32, a trader from Nan district in Luang Prabang, was arrested on 22 February 2024 for methamphetamine trafficking and received a death sentence.
In a separate case, Cao Duy Hau, 26, a Vietnamese national working in Feuang district, Vientiane province, was arrested on 20 October 2024 with 100 methamphetamine pills. The court sentenced him to five years in prison and fined him LAK 10 million (USD 455).
Hua Song, 44, a farmer from Hin Heup district, Vientiane province, was detained on 5 May 2025 in a trafficking case involving 696 methamphetamine pills. He received a seven-year prison term and a fine of LAK 46 million (USD 2,090).
The ruling is consistent with a series of severe penalties handed down by Lao courts in recent years as authorities intensify their crackdown on drug trafficking.
In September 2025, a man identified as Nouvue, from Bokeo Province, was sentenced to death after authorities seized 24,000 methamphetamine tablets and 139 packages of crystal meth weighing 149 kilograms at the time of his arrest.
That same month, the Vientiane Provincial Court sentenced two defendants to death and one to life imprisonment in one of the province’s largest drug cases in recent years, involving a couple arrested with more than 63,000 methamphetamine tablets.
In January 2026, the same court sentenced two men arrested in July 2024 for trafficking 43,595 methamphetamine tablets, along with a pistol and ammunition, to death.
Although Laos retains the death penalty for serious crimes, including drug trafficking, no executions have been carried out since 1989. About 90 percent of death row sentences in Laos are for drug-related offenses, according to the country’s Minister of Public Security
Authorities continue to confront large-scale trafficking across the region. Between July 2021 and October 2025, more than 21,000 drug cases were processed nationwide, with over 31,000 suspects arrested and significant quantities of methamphetamine, crystal meth, and heroin seized.
Regional data also shows the scale of the challenge, with record levels of methamphetamine production and trafficking continuing across East and Southeast Asia.
