Drug traffickers get death sentence

HANOI • Vietnam has sentenced nine drug traffickers to death for smuggling nearly 500kg of heroin into the country from Laos, a local government report said.

Nine others were jailed for life over the massive drug bust and "all illegal profits were seized", according to the official newspaper of the Hoa Binh provincial government yesterday.

The traffickers smuggled the drugs from neighbouring Laos for resale in China and pocketed US$670,000 (S$938,000) between 2012 and last year, according to a separate report by the state-run Vietnam News Agency.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Diamond smuggler caught in China

SHENZHEN • A man has been caught trying to smuggle more than 1,000 diamonds into Shenzhen from neighbouring Hong Kong by hiding them in his shoes.

Customs officials in Shenzhen found 212.9 carats of diamonds in the alleged smuggler's insoles when he passed through Luohu port, which links Hong Kong with inland cities, on Monday last week.

"The man was suspicious as he sometimes tiptoed. When he found that we were looking at him, he quickly shifted to normal walking posture," said a customs officer.

XINHUA

Bali rattled by 5.5-magnitude quake

DENPASAR • Tourists fled their hotels in panic in Bali after the popular Indonesian holiday island was rattled by an early morning earthquake.

The 5.5-magnitude quake struck inland about 10km north-east of Denpasar yesterday, not far from the concentration of holiday resorts in the south of the island.

There were no reports of casualties and damage after the quake struck just after 7am at a depth of 118km.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE