The suspects, 40 and 45 years old, were caught on April 17 while carrying the heroin and 15,000 ecstasy pills on a motorbike.

Officers said the batch was the biggest drug haul seized in the border province this year.

Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is punishable by death.

Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine also face the death penalty.