VIETNAM has executed its first prisoner by lethal injection after a long delay due to a lack of the necessary chemicals, police say.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, 27, was executed in Hanoi on Tuesday morning, a senior police official said.

Tuan was sentenced to death in 2010 for murder and robbery.

The country has not been able to execute any convicts since switching from firing squads to lethal injections in July 2011.

The EU imposed a ban on European companies selling the necessary chemicals to Vietnam as part of an effort to pressure the country into abolishing capital punishment.

This year, Vietnam announced it would produce its own chemicals.

There are currently 586 people on death row in the country, according to local newspaper reports.

Capital crimes include murder, child rape and drug trafficking.