4 years in prison for drug trafficker and drug user

On the morning of May 30, the People's Court of Quy Hop district publicly tried the criminal case against two defendants, both residing in Chau Thai commune, Lo Van Trung (born in 1981) for the crimes of "Illegal trading of narcotics" and "Concealing the illegal use of narcotics", and defendant Lo Van Vinh for the crime of "Illegal trading of narcotics".

Two defendants at trial. Photo: Le Phan

According to the indictment, the subjects including Lo Van Trung, Lo Van Vinh, Lo Van Nam, and Sam Van Hung confessed that they were all drug addicts. At around 6:00 p.m. on December 28, 2017, Vinh went to Trung's house in Muong hamlet, Chau Thai commune (Quy Hop) to play.

In Trung's kitchen, Vinh asked for drugs to use. Trung took an orange plastic tube containing drugs, used a razor blade to cut the tube, then poured the drugs onto a piece of foil to inhale the drugs. After inhaling, Trung continued to pour the drugs onto the foil and gave it to Vinh to use. At the same time, Lo Van Nam (Trung's younger brother) came to visit and went into the kitchen to use the drugs Trung had given him earlier with Vinh. A moment later, Trung took out a package of crystal meth from his person, put it in a trough, burned it to inhale the drug smoke, then let Vinh and Nam use it together.

Sam Van Hung came to Trung's house and called to buy a package of drugs for 200,000 VND. Trung told Vinh to give the drugs to Hung and then take 200,000 VND for himself. After delivering the drugs to Hung, Vinh continued to use drugs with Nam. While using crystal meth, he was caught red-handed by the Quy Hop District Police, who confiscated 200,000 VND, 2 cell phones, 1 bill with black substance, 1 orange plastic tube, and a set of crystal meth tools at the scene.

During an emergency search of Trung’s residence, the police also seized a black plastic bag containing 12 packages of heroin, 1.5 million VND, and a small scale. The total remaining weight of heroin seized by the police from Lo Van Trung was 2.235 grams.

At the investigation agency, Trung confessed that about 4 days before his arrest, Trung bought the drugs for Vinh and Nam from a man named May in Tuong Duong district for 600,000 VND, then divided them into many small packages for later use. As for the crystal meth, Trung gave Vinh 500,000 VND to go to Quy Hop town to buy from a stranger.

Regarding Nam's drug use and Hung's drug purchase, the investigation agency decided to impose an administrative penalty.

Based on the evidence and documents examined at the trial; based on the results of the debate at the trial on the basis of full and comprehensive consideration of the evidence... The panel sentenced the defendant Lo Van Trung (born in 1981) to a total of 4 years in prison for the two crimes of "Illegal trading of narcotics" and "Concealing the illegal use of narcotics" and Lo Van Vinh to 2 years in prison for the crime of "Illegal trading of narcotics"./.