Philippine man sentenced to death in Vietnam for cocaine trafficking

HANOI, Vietnam—State media say a court in Hanoi has sentenced a Philippine man to death for cocaine trafficking.

The Law and Society newspaper says that Emmanuel Sillo Camacho, 39, was convicted of trafficking 3.4 kilograms (7.5 pounds) of cocaine from Brazil to Vietnam at a one-day trial Thursday.

Camacho was arrested in December last year when officials at Hanoi’s Noi Bai international airport found the drugs in his luggage.

The newspaper quoted Camacho as telling the court that he transported the drug for a Philippine woman living in Brazil after she promised to find him a job with monthly salary of up to $1,500 in the South American country.

Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws, where trafficking 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of heroin is punishable by death.