Girl goes to jail for buying drugs for someone else

On January 16, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened the first instance trial of 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 "Illegal drug trafficking".

The records show that because they knew each other before, in March 2024, Ngo Thanh Binh contacted Nguyen Thi Men Anh to ask her to help him buy 30 packages of pink drugs, promising to pay 20 million VND for the service.

Because he had spent time in prison, Anh knew Ha Thi Quyet. Therefore, this girl contacted Quyet to buy drugs. The seller agreed and promised to have the "goods" in a few days.

Quyet then contacted a Laotian to buy 30 packages of opium and was quoted 60 million VND. However, when he reported it to Anh, Quyet asked for an additional 5 million VND and had to pay in advance before sending the goods.

From March 22 to March 26, 2024, Ngo Thanh Binh transferred 74 million VND to Anh. Of which, 65 million was for buying drugs, the remaining 9 million was Binh's money for Anh, not for wages.

After that, Nguyen Thi Men Anh asked someone to give Quyet money to buy drugs. To avoid detection by the police, Quyet and Anh agreed to hide the drugs in a package of herbal medicine and send it by bus.

Early in the morning of April 5, 2024, Quyet brought a bag of herbal medicine to send to Anh by bus. At noon that day, at the intersection of N5 and National Highway 1A, when Anh had just received the package of herbal medicine containing more than 648 grams of drugs, he was caught red-handed by the police. Shortly after, Ngo Thanh Binh was also arrested.

At the trial, the defendants all admitted to their crimes. The two female defendants, Quyet and Anh, said they knew each other while serving their sentences. After being released from prison for a while, the two defendants contacted each other to buy and sell drugs.

When questioned, defendant Binh admitted to asking defendant Anh to buy drugs for him to resell for profit. Defendant Anh stated that he bought drugs for Binh because he wanted the money.

The defendants all expressed remorse and asked the court to consider reducing their sentences. Defendant Anh presented his difficult circumstances, with his mother sick and bedridden, and asked the court to give him the opportunity to return home soon to take care of and visit his mother.

After considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel sentenced Ha Thi Quyet to life in prison. The two defendants Nguyen Thi Men Anh and Ngo Thanh Binh were sentenced to 20 years in prison for illegal drug trafficking.