HANOI, Vietnam — A court in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday sentenced a South African man to death after finding him guilty of trafficking nearly 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of cocaine.

The Ho Chi Minh City Law newspaper said Coetzee Tyron Lee was convicted in a half-day trial.

It said Lee was arrested in June 2016 upon arriving at the city's Tan Son Nhat international airport after officials found the drug in his bag.

Lee told investigators that he was hired by a Nigerian man to transport the drug for $3,500 which would be paid after his arrival in Vietnam, it said.

Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. Trafficking 100 grams or more of heroin or cocaine is punishable by death.