Brother-in-law and sister-in-law arrested while 'shipping' drugs

On February 18, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first instance trial of defendants Nguyen Dinh Thanh (born 1997) and Pham Xuan Chat (born 1990), both residing in Tru Son commune, Do Luong district (Nghe An) for the crime of "Illegal transportation of drugs".

The indictment stated that on December 18, 2023, Thanh was hired by a man named Hoang Van Hung (residing in Nghi Kieu commune, Nghi Loc district) to go to Que Phong district to transport 2 packages (ie 60 packages of pink drugs) for a fee of 10 million VND.

Hearing that, Nguyen Dinh Thanh agreed. Then, Thanh hired his brother-in-law, Pham Xuan Chat, to use his car to take him to get the drugs. The two agreed on a fare of 4 million VND.

On December 22, 2023, Hung called Thanh to urge him to pick up the “goods” and gave him the phone number of the drug seller. Thanh called the seller and arranged a time and place to pick up the “goods”.

At around 7pm that same day, Chat drove Thanh to get the drugs. When they arrived at the intersection of Tri Le commune, Que Phong district, following the seller's instructions, Thanh went to the ditch and saw the box of drugs so he picked it up and got into the car.

After getting the drugs, Thanh told his brother-in-law to drive home. However, when the two arrived at Chau Kim commune, Que Phong district, they were arrested by the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department with more than 1.2 kg of drugs.

At the trial, the two defendants admitted to transporting drugs for hire. Defendant Thanh said he agreed to transport drugs for hire because he wanted to earn 10 million VND. After that, he hired his brother-in-law, defendant Chat, to drive the car to Que Phong to get the drugs.

During the trial, defendant Chat shed tears many times to show his remorse. The defendant presented his family situation with four young children to ask the court to consider reducing his sentence.

The panel of judges determined that in this case, defendant Nguyen Dinh Thanh played a major role and therefore sentenced him to life in prison.

For his active role in assisting in the case, defendant Pham Xuan Chat was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the crime of Illegally transporting drugs.

Regarding the man named Hung that defendant Thanh claimed to have hired to transport drugs, because this person was not present in the locality, the investigation agency has no basis to clarify and handle this case.