On 27 August, the Vientiane Province People’s Court sentenced 14 people for drug trafficking and murder, with punishments ranging from two years to life in prison.
The court gave its toughest sentence to a 27 year old laborer from Mai village, Phonhong district. The judges sentenced him to life in prison and a LAK 500 million (USD 22,270) fine for trafficking 500 grams of ecstasy, according to Vientiane Province Police. The Laotian Times could not independently verify further details on this case.
In the only murder case, the court sentenced Cheuyang, 43, an unemployed man from Vangheua village, Thoulakhom district, to 20 years in prison and a LAK 100 million (USD 4,455) fine.
The court also ruled on several amphetamine trafficking cases across Phonhong, Hinheup, Feuang, Meun, Thoulakhom, and Keo Oudom districts. Most of these defendants were farmers or laborers caught with anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred tablets.
As a result, the court gave most of them five years in prison and fines of about LAK 10 million (USD 445)each. Among them were Xay, 19, of Meun district; Kongchai, 26, and Douathor, 31, both of Feuang district; Bounthavy, 41, of Thoulakhom district; and Phoutthason, 21, of Keo Oudom district.
The court handed Yout, 27, of Hinheup district, and Ali, 40, of Feuang district, slightly longer terms of five years and three months each for trafficking amphetamine tablets together.
Meanwhile, the two youngest defendants, 19 and 20 years old, both of Phonhong district, received a standard five-year term.
The same ruling reduced the sentence for their co-defendant, Teuy, 44, to two years with a smaller fine.
In a second Thoulakhom district case, the court sentenced a 45 woman to seven years in prison and a bigger fine of LAK 46 million (USD 2,049). Her co-defendant, Khanseng, 21, received five years. The two had trafficked a larger haul of amphetamine tablets.
Police arrested the defendants between June 2024 and October 2025, with most arrests happening in the second half of 2025 after tip-offs and routine anti-drug operations across the province.
