Two Vietnamese police officers who helped a female drug smuggler avoid an appointment with the firing squad by allowing her to get pregnant while on death row have been jailed, AP reports.

Nguyen Thi Oanh, now 40, was convicted of possessing more than one billion dong ($63,000) of heroin and sentenced to death. However, she last year managed to get up the duff, thereby expoiting a law which said that pregnant women and mothers of kids under three could not be executed.

Linh admitted: "It was the most unusual case I have ever seen. Many people came to the trial out of curiosity, just to see what the woman and her baby looked like."

Thuyen got five years for his trouble, while Quyet will serve three-and-a-half years. Oanh, meanwhile, whose sentence was commuted to life, will happily not face the chop when her sprog turns three. ®

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