Husband goes to jail, wife connects to sell the heroin hidden in the house
After her husband was imprisoned for "illegal drug trafficking", Phuong conspired to sell the heroin hidden in the house. On the day of the trial, the female defendant stated that she was suffering from a serious illness to ask for a lighter sentence.
On February 17, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened the first instance trial of defendants Phan Thi Phuong (born 1981) and Pham Van Ly (born 1988), both residing in Tay Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, and Nguyen Thanh Binh (born 1977), residing in Quang Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking”.
According to the indictment, in 2018, Phan Thi Phuong met Ngo Duc Thanh, then lived together as husband and wife in Dong Vinh ward, Vinh city. In June 2023, Thanh was arrested by the police for illegal drug trafficking and was sentenced to 16 years in prison by the provincial court.
After her husband went to jail, Phuong found out that Thanh was still hiding drugs in the house, so she contacted Pham Van Ly and asked if he wanted to buy heroin to sell. Hearing that, Ly agreed to buy it.
At the end of February 2024, Phuong took 17 packages of pink phien (weighing more than 342 grams) hidden in the TV shelf and gave them to Ly. The two sides agreed on a price of 91 million VND, so Ly transferred the money to Phuong.
Ly sold 6 packages of the drugs he bought to Nguyen Thanh Binh twice for a total of 48 million VND. After that, Binh sold the drugs to many strangers.
After selling most of the drugs, on April 5, Binh continued to order 5 packages of pink phien from Ly for 40 million VND, transferred 8 million VND, and had not yet received the "goods". However, in the afternoon of the same day, when Binh had just sold the drugs to an unknown person, he was arrested by the police.
Based on Binh's testimony, the police arrested Pham Van Ly. In October 2024, Phan Thi Phuong turned herself in to the police, admitting to drug trafficking.
At the trial, the defendants all admitted to their crimes. Defendant Phuong stated that after her husband was arrested, she knew there were drugs in the house and contacted Ly to sell them.
Defendants Ly and Binh admitted to trafficking drugs for profit. Defendant Binh presented his difficult circumstances and sick child to ask the court to consider reducing his sentence.
In his final statement before the court deliberated, defendant Phuong stated that he was suffering from a serious illness and asked the court to consider reducing his sentence.
Considering the defendants' criminal acts as dangerous to society and violating the law, the panel sentenced the three defendants Phan Thi Phuong, Pham Van Ly, and Nguyen Thanh Binh each to 20 years in prison.
