'Sentence upon sentence' old man still trafficking drugs
Having been in prison four times, including a 20-year sentence for drug-related crimes, Vinh still reoffended. This time, the 70-year-old man spent more than 100 million VND to trade drugs for retail sale.
On July 9, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first instance trial of defendant Tran Xuan Vinh (68 years old), residing in Trung Phuc Cuong commune, Nam Dan district (Nghe An) for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking”; Defendant Duong Duc Hieu (33 years old), residing in Nghia Hong commune, Nghia Dan district, for the crime of “Illegal possession of narcotics”.
Both defendants have bad records and have been tried many times. Vinh has been imprisoned four times, while Hieu has been tried twice for different crimes.
Regarding the case, according to the indictment, around May 2023, due to needing money for medical treatment, Vinh had the idea of buying drugs to sell for profit. Vinh took 133 million VND and took a bus to Que Phong district to buy drugs from a subject of unknown origin.
4 months later, Vinh went to Vinh market to buy an electronic scale to divide the drugs into small pieces to sell for profit. To avoid detection by the police, Vinh hid the drugs in many places such as putting them in milk cartons and putting them in the refrigerator, hiding them in the wardrobe...
Around October 2023, while Vinh was sitting at a coffee shop, he met Duong Duc Hieu. At this time, Hieu asked Vinh to buy heroin for his own use. Since that meeting, Vinh has sold drugs to Hieu twice.
Specifically, in November 2023, Vinh sold Hieu a package of heroin for 1 million VND. After using up all the drugs, on December 18, 2023, at Yen Xuan bridge area (Trung Phuc Cuong commune), Hieu continued to buy 1 package of drugs from Vinh.
After that, Hieu went to buy drug paraphernalia and was stopped by the police. When he spotted the police, Hieu swallowed the package of drugs, but later voluntarily vomited the package out. Based on Hieu’s statement, the police searched the house and arrested Vinh.
The investigation agency determined that Tran Xuan Vinh must bear criminal responsibility for selling drugs twice with a total weight of more than 524 grams. Hieu must bear criminal responsibility for possessing 0.32 grams of drugs.
At the trial, both defendants admitted their crimes and expressed remorse. Defendant Vinh said he sold drugs because of a long-term illness.
Defendant Hieu stated that he bought drugs because he was addicted. Regarding the money he used to buy the drugs, Hieu stated that it was money his relatives gave to his wife because she had just given birth to a baby.
After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel sentenced defendant Tran Xuan Vinh to 20 years in prison. Defendant Duong Duc Hieu received a 2-year prison sentence for illegal possession of narcotics.
