Husband in jail, wife at home 'shipping' drugs

Using mother's car to "ship" drugs

The trial of defendant Nguyen Thi Phuong Loan (31 years old), residing in Hung Dung ward, Vinh city, for the crime of “Illegal transportation of narcotics” was attended by only a few relatives. Because the defendant’s family is quite poor. Loan’s husband, born in 1986, is currently serving a prison sentence in a prison in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province.

Her husband was in trouble with the law when the children were young, so for many years Loan was the sole breadwinner of the family. Raising the children alone, without a stable job, Loan had to rely on relatives and her parents. But then her father passed away, so Loan only had her mother to rely on.

Although her husband had served his sentence, Loan still kept in touch with an acquaintance of her husband, named Trung (unknown background). On the afternoon of April 4, 2024, Trung contacted Loan via social media to hire her to go to Hanoi to transport drugs to Vinh city, then deliver them to the customer. This person offered a "shipping" fee of 20 million VND. Without hesitation, Loan accepted.

To prepare for the long trip, this woman proactively made a plan. Loan contacted a friend of the opposite sex, invited them to go to Hanoi together but did not say the purpose of transporting drugs. After that, this young woman used her mother's car as a means of transportation. At 11pm that same day, Loan and her friend traveled to Hanoi by car.

The next morning, when arriving, the friend stayed at the motel while Loan contacted Trung to receive the drugs. Loan drove alone to the meeting point, met the man wearing a mask to receive the drug package. After receiving the "goods", Loan put them in the car and returned with her friend to Nghe An to deliver them to the customer.

However, this woman’s extremely expensive “shipping” trip did not reach its destination. When Nguyen Thi Phuong Loan arrived at Bac Vinh Bus Station (in Nghi Kim Commune, Vinh City), she was arrested by the police with more than 434 grams of drugs.

Wife follows husband to prison

With the above crime, Loan was prosecuted and brought to trial for the crime of Illegally transporting drugs. In the witness stand, the defendant admitted to transporting drugs for hire for her husband's friend. The defendant stated that she did not know the identity of this person. During the communication process, the defendant texted and called Trung via Zalo. After receiving the drugs, the defendant deleted all messages and Zalo of that man on her phone.

Justifying her crime, the female defendant said she committed it to have money to raise her two young children (9 and 5 years old). Her husband was arrested when the second child was still very young, so for many years the defendant had to raise the children alone. Loan and her children lived in an apartment in Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city. Having no stable job and hanging out with some of her husband's friends, Loan got involved in drugs. Now, with her hands in handcuffs, the female defendant feels remorse, especially when talking about her children.

In front of the witness stand, the defendant expressed remorse and asked the court to consider reducing his sentence so that he could return home soon to take care of his two young children. Since his mother was arrested and his father is in prison, his two children have had to rely on relatives to take care of them. Therefore, when meeting his mother in the courtroom, Loan did not forget to ask about her children and asked her to take care of them while she was serving her sentence.

In the few minutes she was able to see her daughter in court, the mother continuously sent words of encouragement to the defendant. Her son-in-law and then her daughter being imprisoned for drugs made her sadness multiply many times over. She felt sorry for her daughter and her husband, but also angry at them. Because of their addiction to drugs, both her daughter and son-in-law had to pay a heavy price in their lives…

Returning to the case, the panel of judges determined that the defendant's criminal behavior was dangerous, not only directly violating the State's management and use of addictive substances, negatively affecting local security and order, and being one of the causes of social evils and other crimes.

The defendant was aware that the act of illegally transporting drugs was a violation of the law, but still deliberately committed the crime, so he should be severely punished. However, some mitigating circumstances should also be considered for the defendant, such as his honest confession and remorse.

Considering the case as a whole, the court sentenced Nguyen Thi Phuong Loan to 20 years in prison for illegal drug trafficking. As for the man named Trung, because the defendant did not know his background, the investigation agency had no basis to handle the case. The court also ordered the car to be returned to the defendant's mother because this woman did not know about her son's behavior.