Lessons learned from the case of disabled people trafficking in drugs

(Baonghean) -Taking advantage of his congenital disability and having to sit in a wheelchair all day, LVT organized drug trafficking at his home. This long-standing drug den became a place to supply drugs to addicts in Chau Kim commune, Que Phong district.

People in Do village, Chau Kim commune, Que Phong district, whenever mentioning LVT (43 years old), always have an attitude of regret and pity. Born into a family with difficult circumstances, his father had a congenital disability and could only use a wheelchair. T's brothers were influenced by their father and were also disabled.

LVT himself was unable to move by himself since birth, and a genetic disease caused T to shrink and be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The disabled people in T's family all receive monthly social assistance. Although the amount is not much, for ethnic minority areas with difficult circumstances, this regular allowance is very meaningful, contributing to reducing their difficulties.

Like many other villages in Chau Kim commune, the drug tornado swept through Do village, causing many families to be broken, many young men to become addicted, go to jail or die from drugs or HIV/AIDS. Although a disabled person, LVT could not escape the cruel spiral of white death.

After a few “trials”, LVT became addicted and organized retail heroin sales to addicts in the area. T considered this his main job, a way to change his life. To disguise his illegal business, T hired someone to build him a kiosk, used to sell groceries, with the back leading to the garden. Every day, T had someone guard the front of the store, and when addicts came to buy heroin, T would show them inside the house, deliver the goods, and then sneak out to the garden to use on the spot. Absolutely no heroin was allowed to be taken out of the house, to prevent any unforeseen events.

To successfully trade in drugs, T relied on his niece LTH (30 years old). H was also born with a disability, weighing just over 10kg, less than 1 meter tall and only able to sit in one place. Despite his disability, H is a seasoned person in the drug trade. In 2007, H was sentenced to 2 years in prison by the People's Court of Que Phong district for illegal drug trafficking. While awaiting execution, H continued to commit crimes, was caught red-handed by the police and sentenced to 3 years in prison by the Provincial People's Court for the same crime. The combined sentence of the two sentences that H had to endure was 5 years in prison. In 2012, H completed his prison term, when he saw that T's heroin retail "agent" was doing well and had not been caught by the authorities, H "returned to his old ways", quickly cooperating with his uncle to distribute drugs to customers.

The illegal drug trafficking activities of LVT and LTH did not escape the attention of the Que Phong District Police. On the evening of February 26, 2013, when discovering many drug addicts coming to T's house to buy heroin, a working group of Que Phong District Police raided the house and caught red-handed a package of heroin weighing 0.3 grams on T's bed. At this time, H in the next bedroom took 4 packages of drugs and threw them out the window in an attempt to destroy the evidence but was discovered.

During the emergency search, the police confiscated 5 more packages of heroin and 2 packages containing synthetic drug pills, 1 bottle containing a dark brown plastic substance identified as opium. In total, the authorities seized 10 packages of heroin weighing 43.2 grams; 27 synthetic drug pills weighing 2.5 grams; 68.5 grams of opium in T's house.

On June 18, 2013, the Provincial People's Court brought the case of illegal drug trafficking of LVT and LTH to trial. While T was brought to court on a stretcher, H had to sit in a wheelchair. After a while of listening to the interrogation, T had difficulty breathing, so the judicial police force had to carry T onto the wheelchair and place him in front of the bar. During the trial, both confessed that "they thought that because they were disabled they would not go to jail, so they traded in contraband."

The jury found that both T and H were people with limited capacity and behavior, receiving monthly social benefits. The two defendants should have known how to rise up and integrate into the community. However, because of greed and taking advantage of their disabilities, both committed serious crimes. At the end of the trial, T was sentenced to 11 years in prison, and H was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

This is not the first time that disabled people have taken advantage of their illness or weakness to illegally trade in drugs. More than a year ago, the Provincial People’s Court also tried a man in Que Phong district who was paralyzed on one side and had to lie on a stretcher for illegally trading in drugs.

Then, the notorious drug lord Tran Van An (born in 1960), residing in Vinh City, before being sentenced to life in prison by the Provincial People's Court and sentenced to death by the Ha Tinh Provincial Court, both claimed that he was a severely wounded soldier and had to use drugs to relieve pain, so he set up a drug trafficking line from Laos to Vietnam.

Distributing leaflets about the harmful effects of drugs to people in the mountainous area of ​​Quy Chau.
Photo: Minh Tam

In the recent trial of two paralyzed uncles and nephews who were drug dealers, the judge, the presiding judge and the representative of the provincial People's Procuracy said that for a long time, many people have taken advantage of their disabilities to violate the law and illegally trade in drugs. This is not a new trick and is strictly punished. "Many people in mountainous ethnic minority areas have physical disabilities and limited legal awareness, so they think that because they are disabled, they will not be arrested when trading drugs, or if they are arrested, they will not have to serve a prison sentence.

This is completely wrong, because before the law, disabled people as well as healthy people must be responsible for their violations. In some cases, the jury can apply some articles and clauses to reduce the penalty, however, the law strictly handles those who commit illegal drug trafficking as well as other crimes," the presiding judge warned.

Nguyen Khoa