Life sentence for 2 subjects from Hanoi to Central region to buy 'white goods'

On the morning of February 20, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial to try defendants Nguyen Doan Huan (born 1969), residing in Thanh Khai commune, Thanh Chuong district, and Nguyen Phu Nghien (born 1968), residing in Xuan Tao ward, Bac Tu Liem district (Hanoi) for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

According to the investigation agency’s documents, in early June 2019, Huan came to stay at Nghien’s house in Hanoi. During his stay, Huan told Nghien that he knew a Laotian named Son who sold drugs “as long as he had money, he could buy as much as he wanted.”

On the afternoon of July 7, 2019, Nghien asked Huan to buy 1 cake of heroin and 1 kg of crystal meth. Huan called Son and was quoted 140 million VND/1 cake of heroin, 160 million VND/1 kg of crystal meth and 10 million VND for transportation to Huong Son district (Ha Tinh), and asked to transfer the money in advance.

Two defendants at trial. Photo: Tran Vu

After calling Son, Huan quoted the price to Nghien and agreed that if Huan brought the drugs to Hanoi, he would resell them for 190 million VND/1 heroin cake and 250 million VND/1 kg of crystal meth. Nghien agreed. Huan asked to transfer the money first, then Nghien asked to transfer 350 million VND, the remaining amount was deferred. After receiving the money, Son made an appointment with Huan to deliver the drugs in Huong Son district on the evening of July 9.

On the evening of July 8, Nghien rented a self-driving car to take Huan from Hanoi to Ha Tinh to pick up the “goods”. On the way, Huan called Son to meet at 9 p.m. on July 9 at landmark 23, the road to Cau Treo Border Gate to deliver and receive the drugs. At the meeting point, Huan got out of the car to meet the Laotian to receive the drugs, while Nghien drove another 1 km and then returned to pick up Huan.

Huan got out of the car, received the "goods" from the Laotian, then got into the car driven by Nghien. At 11:45 p.m., when Nghien drove the car to Dien Ngoc commune (Dien Chau), he was checked, discovered, and arrested by the traffic police. The evidence of the case was a package of Methamphetamine weighing 991.36 grams and 2 heroin cakes weighing 706.16 grams.

At the trial, the two defendants admitted to their crimes. Both said they were drug addicts and had criminal records. Defendant Huan was sentenced to 12 months in prison for "Gambling" and 30 months in prison for "Illegal possession of narcotics". Defendant Nghien had 4 previous convictions for crimes related to drugs and gambling.

The panel of judges determined that the actions of the two defendants were in violation of the law. The defendants had previous convictions but did not take them as a lesson, so they needed to be severely punished. Considering the case as a whole, the court sentenced Nguyen Doan Huan and Nguyen Phu Nghien to life in prison for “illegally trading in narcotics”.