9X carries AK gun on chest and deal worth more than 2 billion VND

Buy 10 new heroin cakes to sell

These days, instead of being warmly surrounded by his wife and children, Tho No Tua is being detained at Nghe An Provincial Police Detention Center, awaiting trial for three crimes: "Murder", "Illegal use of military weapons" and "Illegal drug trafficking".

Crossbow in Tua. Photo: Khanh An

According to the records, although Tho No Tua (26 years old, residing in Nam Tay village, Vieng Phan village cluster, Sam No district, Hua Phan province, Laos) belongs to the 9X generation and is still young, he has established a drug line from Laos to Nghe An. Tua also equipped himself with a gun to gain power and fight back against the police when he was surrounded and arrested.

Tua's transnational drug ring recruited Luong Van Binh (residing in Que Phong district, Nghe An), Tho Chong Po (32 years old) and Tho Hua Ly (both Laotian nationals).

In early 2016, Luong Van Binh drove a truck to Laos to sell goods and met and became acquainted with Tho Chong Po. Po told Binh, "If you know anyone in Vietnam who needs to buy drugs, let them know." Around August 2016, Binh returned to Que Phong district and met two young men named Hung and Nghia (unknown background). After a while of talking, Hung and Nghia raised the issue of needing to buy drugs.

When he found a connection, Binh went to Laos to meet Po again and said that someone wanted to buy drugs. Binh acted as a bridge to take Po to an abandoned house in the forest of Thong Thu commune (Que Phong district) to meet Hung and Nghia to discuss how to bring drugs into Nghe An. There, Po offered to sell each package of heroin for 7 million VND. Hung and Nghia agreed and ordered 10 packages of heroin.

Po returned to Laos to meet his "big brother" to report the results of the transaction. The very next morning, Tua brought an AK gun and 10 packages of opium with Po to sell, but Hung and Nghia saw that Tua was carrying AK and did not dare to come buy. Tua and Po returned to Laos. The first transaction failed, but Po continued to call Binh. Binh said "we do business with weapons, but we don't do guns". After that, Po and Tua pretended to be tourists going to Phu Phuong intersection (Que Phong district) to meet Binh, Hung, and Nghia.

At Sao Va waterfall, Hung and Nghia discussed buying 5 pairs of heroin and 10 packages of opium. Tua said "5 pairs of heroin is too little, not worth the effort to bring over". Hung agreed to order 10 pairs, each pair costing 280 million VND. Po agreed to sell but said "let me see the money (more than 2 billion VND) before delivering the goods". After that, the group went to eat and Hung promised to give Binh 100 million VND if the "goods" transaction was successful.

On September 15, 2016, Po called Binh and said "the goods are here, come and see the goods". Binh went to Thong Thu Border Gate area, walked across to Laos, went to Tua's house to see the "goods" and made an appointment to pick them up tomorrow.

Follow Tua wearing prison clothes

On the afternoon of September 16, 2016, Tua invited Ly and Po to cross the border into Vietnam to deliver drugs and promised to pay them to buy rice. All three went to the meeting point in the forest to deliver drugs to Hung and Binh. While they were making the transaction, the Que Phong District Police surrounded and arrested them.

Seeing the police, Tua pointed his AK gun and fired randomly at the soldiers. Despite being wounded in the leg, the police still managed to arrest Ly, Binh and Po. Meanwhile, Tua stole the backpack containing the drugs and escaped into the forest with the gun.

Trial of Luong Van Binh, Tho Chong Po, Tho Hua Ly. Photo: Bui Thao.

On July 27, 2017, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial, a mobile trial, and sentenced Tho Chong Po and Tho Hua Ly to 7 years in prison each, and Luong Van Binh to 4 years in prison for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

The Nghe An Provincial Police Department has issued a decision to prosecute and search for Tua. On July 31, 2017, after more than a year of hiding in the forest to escape arrest, Tua was arrested.

After being arrested, Tua confessed that on his way back to Laos, he hid his gun and backpack containing drugs in the bushes by the stream. Then, Tua called a Laotian to come and get them for safekeeping. The next time, Tua hid in his father-in-law's field, but he felt uneasy so he wandered into the forest, lived in hiding and unexpectedly was arrested.

Currently, the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province has completed the indictment and transferred the case file to the People's Court of Nghe An province to try Tua for three crimes of "Murder", "Illegal drug trafficking" and "Illegal use of military weapons".