HANOI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Police of Vietnam's northern Dien Bien province on Monday announced that they had arrested a local man for trading illegally 20,000 pills of synthetic drug.

Hang A Khua, 27, was caught red-handed on Sunday selling the drug to two other traffickers who escaped the provincial police's raid. Khua confessed that he had bought the drug in a border area.

According to the Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty.