Pressured by debt, a woman with a bad background traffics heroin.

On June 1, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Trinh Thi Song Huong (born 1965), residing in Quang Phong ward, Thai Hoa town, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

According to case records, in the early morning of November 21, 2021, a woman named Yen went to Huong's house and discussed going to Que Phong district to buy drugs to resell for profit.

Huong agreed so she went into the house to open the safe and took 15 million VND, then took the motorbike and told Yen to take her to buy drugs.

Defendant Trinh Thi Song Huong confessed that she sold drugs because of debt. Photo: Tran Vu

After meeting a man she did not know, Huong gave him 15 million VND to buy drugs. After waiting for about 2 hours, the seller took out a plastic bag containing drugs and dropped it on the street, then told Huong to come and get it.

While Huong and Yen were on their way home, they were arrested by the police with evidence of more than 47 grams of heroin.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime. Huong said that due to the pressure of debt, when Yen invited her to buy drugs, she agreed. The defendant presented her difficult family circumstances to ask the court to consider reducing her sentence.

It is known that before this trial, Huong was sentenced to 7 months in prison for "Theft of property". Regarding this sentence, Huong stated that she had stolen a dog that year.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant's actions were dangerous to society. Although the defendant knew that drug trafficking was illegal, she still did it, showing disregard for the law. After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel sentenced defendant Trinh Thi Song Huong to 15 years and 6 months in prison for "Illegal drug trafficking".

In this case, according to the defendant's testimony, Yen is also present. However, Yen did not admit to the crime and stated that Huong only asked her to take her to buy a pair of buffalo and cows for slaughter, and did not know about Huong's drug trafficking. The investigation agency conducted a confrontation between Huong and Yen about the above content but could not clarify whether Yen participated in drug trafficking or not. Currently, Yen is not present in the area, so the investigation agency will verify and clarify later.