Life sentence for a man who just got out of prison and trafficked drugs

On December 13, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a trial for defendant Nguyen Van Hong (born 1985), residing in Muong Noc commune, Que Phong district, for the crime of "“Illegal transportation of drugs”.

The indictment shows that on the evening of December 18, 2021, knowing that Hong was preparing to return to Yen Thanh, Nguyen The Anh gave her a pink plastic bag and asked her to take it down there and someone would pick it up.

Then, Hong took the plastic bag and caught a bus to Yen Thanh district. On the bus, Hong put the plastic bag on the luggage rack behind the third row of seats, and sat next to the door.

Defendant Nguyen Van Hong was sentenced to life in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

At around 10:25 a.m. the next day, when the car arrived at Truong Banh intersection in Tien Phong commune, the police discovered a plastic bag containing 959.04 grams of drugs, so they made a record and arrested the offender red-handed.

At the investigation agency, Hong gave inconsistent statements, sometimes stating that she did not bring any luggage on the car, and sometimes stating that Anh asked her to leave a bag containing only a few sets of clothes.

In an interrogation report, Hong stated that the bag of goods brought into the car belonged to Anh. At the same time, Hong stated: “About 10 days ago, Hong heard Anh on the phone with someone in the South discussing buying crystal meth. After that, Anh told Hong that the other group was offering too high a price for drugs.”

At the trial, the defendant Hong denied the crime, refusing to admit that the plastic bag was his. The defendant also claimed that the self-confession at the Que Phong District Police Department was only signed on blank paper.

The panel of judges determined that although the defendant did not admit to the crime, the minutes of the interrogation and testimony had the defendant's signature. In addition, there were audio and video recordings of the defendant's testimony, so the defendant's statement that he signed a blank paper was unfounded.

In addition, the witness, the bus driver, stated that the bag containing the drugs was brought by the defendant onto the bus, and at that time there were no passengers on the bus.

From the evidence examined, it is shown that the prosecution of the defendant for the crime of "Illegal transportation of narcotics" is the right person, the right crime, and the right law. Considering the case as a whole, the panel sentenced Nguyen Van Hong to life in prison for the crime of "Illegal transportation of narcotics"./.