Girl jailed for buying drugs for someone else.
When Binh contacted her to help buy drugs, Nguyen Thi Men Anh readily agreed. However, while Anh was receiving the drugs, which were disguised in a package of traditional medicine, she was discovered by the police. As a result, both of them ended up in prison.
On January 16th, the Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance trial to hear the case against three defendants: Ha Thi Quyet (born in 1971, residing in Thong Thu commune, Que Phong district), Nguyen Thi Men Anh (born in 1994, residing in Hoa Son commune, Anh Son district), and Ngo Thanh Binh (born in 1979, residing in Dien Ngoc commune, Dien Chau district) for the crime of "illegally trading narcotics".
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According to the records, due to their prior acquaintance, in March 2024 Ngo Thanh Binh contacted Nguyen Thi Men Anh to ask her to find and purchase 30 packets of methamphetamine, promising to pay her 20 million VND as a commission.
Because he had previously served time in prison, Anh knew Ha Thi Quyet. Therefore, Anh contacted Quyet to inquire about purchasing drugs. The seller agreed and promised to have the "goods" in a few days.
Later, Quyet contacted a Laotian man to inquire about purchasing 30 packets of methamphetamine and was quoted a price of 60 million dong. However, when he relayed this to Anh, Quyet demanded an additional 5 million dong and insisted that the money be paid in advance before shipping the goods.
From March 22nd to March 26th, 2024, Ngo Thanh Binh transferred 74 million VND to Anh. Of that amount, 65 million VND was for purchasing drugs, and the remaining 9 million VND was Binh's personal payment to Anh, not payment for services rendered.
Later, Nguyen Thi Men Anh asked someone to bring money to buy drugs for Quyet. To avoid detection by the police, Quyet and Anh agreed to hide the drugs inside a package of traditional medicine and send it by bus.
Early in the morning of April 5, 2024, Quyet took a bag of traditional medicine to send to Anh via passenger bus. At noon that same day, at the intersection of N5 road and National Highway 1A, Anh was caught red-handed by the police just as he received the package of medicine, which contained over 648 grams of narcotics. Shortly afterward, Ngo Thanh Binh was also arrested.
At the trial, all defendants admitted to the crimes. The two female defendants, Quyết and Anh, testified that they knew each other while serving prison sentences. After being released from prison, the two defendants contacted each other to buy and sell drugs.
During questioning, defendant Binh admitted to asking defendant Anh to buy drugs for him to resell for profit. Defendant Anh testified that he bought the drugs for Binh because he was greedy for payment.
All the defendants expressed remorse and asked the court to consider mitigating circumstances. Defendant Anh presented his difficult situation, stating that his mother was ill and bedridden, and requested the court to allow him the opportunity to return home to care for and visit his mother as soon as possible.
After considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel of judges sentenced Ha Thi Quyet to life imprisonment. Defendants Nguyen Thi Men Anh and Ngo Thanh Binh received 20-year prison sentences for illegally trafficking narcotics.
