A Thai criminal court handed down a death sentence to four Lao women convicted of trafficking and illegal possession of methamphetamines.
Another woman was convicted in the same case to 25 years in prison, as she was still a minor.
The five women were arrested in August 2002 after police received a tip-off that Lao women posing as tourists were smuggling drugs across the broder to the northeastern province of Nong Khai.
Upon capture, the women were found in possession of 17.5 kilograms of heroin and some 60,000 methamphetamine tablets worth around 10 million Baht.
The five women denied all charges, insisting that they were simply tourists, but their pleas were rejected on the basis of evidence.