A 73-year-old Australian woman was sentenced to death in Vietnam Thursday on charges of drug trafficking.
Vietnamese-born Nguyen Thi Huong was found guilty Wednesday of possessing at least 1.6 kilograms of cocaine hidden in 36 bars of soap while trying to board a plane to Australia in December 2014.
The woman claims the soap was given to her by a woman named Helen, and that she had planned to take them to Australia as gifts. But the defense was unable to prove the identity or existence of Helen, according to local media.
Huong has 15 days to appeal her death sentence after the court ruled that her offense was "extremely dangerous to the community". She faces death by lethal injection.
Possession of more than 100 grams of heroine in Vietnam in punishable by death.