Authorities uncovered the ring in early 2023 when customs officials at Ho Chi Minh City’s international airport found 11kg of MDMA and ketamine inside more than 150 toothpaste tubes, state media reported.
The tubes had been brought from France by four Vietnam Airlines flight attendants who had agreed to carry unspecified consumer goods for a fee of around US$450, reports said.
But they were not prosecuted as investigators said there was no evidence they were aware they were carrying drugs.
The ringleader had organised several shipments of synthetic drugs hidden in toothpaste tubes and in boxes of dietary supplements.
He also recruited Vietnamese people studying or residing in France to collect the drugs and send them to Vietnam using international express delivery services.
The trial was conducted in person and online due to the number of defendants and featured more than 120 lawyers, Tuoi Tre said.
In 2024, Vietnam sentenced 27 people to death for trafficking more than 600 kilograms of drugs including heroin, ketamine and methamphetamine from neighbouring Cambodia.
Eleven people, including two police officers, were sentenced to death last year for trafficking drugs from Laos.
Vietnam has carried out death sentences by lethal injection since 2013, when it replaced execution by firing squad.
