Drug addicts keep 'hot goods', set up camps in deep forests to use and sell drugs
(Baonghean.vn) - To avoid the authorities, Lo Van Thi set up a camp deep in the forest and had his men keep watch. This was where Thi sold drugs to customers and used them whenever he had an addiction. In addition, Thi always kept weapons hidden on his person to deal with the police.
On the morning of August 27, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Lo Van Thi (born in 1963), residing in Luong Minh commune, Tuong Duong district, for the crimes of "Illegal drug trafficking" and "Illegal possession of military weapons".
According to the indictment, in order to facilitate drug trafficking, in 2016 Thi built a shack on a hill in Muong village, Luong Minh commune. Around March 2019, a man came to Thi's shack to buy drugs. This man had no money, so he exchanged with Thi a grenade, a flintlock gun, a homemade pistol, and 9 sports bullets for 2 packets of heroin.
On May 5, Lo Van Thi went to Pu Lom hill area, Luong Minh commune to buy from a man named Nhenh (Laotian) 4 "trees" of heroin, 1 package of pink phien for a total of 20 million VND. Nhenh also gave Thi 1 package of crystal meth.
With the above drugs, Thi brought them back to his camp and divided them into small pieces to hide. Every day, Thi stayed in the camp to use drugs and sell the "goods" to other subjects.
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| Defendant Lo Van Thi. Photo: Tran Vu |
Lo Van Thi's vigilance and cunning were evident in the fact that addicts who came to buy drugs had to be "approved" by Thi's men before being allowed into the shack. Thi passed the drugs to his men before sending them to the addicts. For those who came from outside the province to buy drugs, Thi arranged for his men to check at Xop Mat bridge (about 7 km from Thi's gathering place), and only when they felt safe and trustworthy would they let someone in to get the "goods".
At around 2:00 p.m. on May 8, while Lo Van Thi was at his camp selling drugs, he was discovered and arrested by a working group of Nghe An Provincial Police and Tuong Duong District Police. The seized evidence included many packages containing drugs with a total weight of 31.85 grams of heroin, 75.87 grams of methaphetamine; 1 duckbill grenade, a military weapon made in the US, 1 pistol, 1 flintlock gun, 9 bullets and more than 1.3 million VND.
At the trial, Thi confessed to being addicted to drugs since 2016. To avoid the authorities, the defendant set up a camp deep in the forest, with his juniors keeping a close watch so he could use drugs and sell "goods" to addicts.
Unlike other defendants, Lo Van Thi refused to have a final say before the court deliberated.
Considering the case as a whole, the panel sentenced Lo Van Thi to 20 years in prison for “Illegal drug trafficking” and 2 years in prison for “Illegal possession of military weapons”. The total sentence that defendant Thi must serve is 22 years in prison.
According to information from the investigation agency, in addition to this case, on April 13, 2019, Lo Van Thi was also prosecuted by Tuong Duong District Police for "Illegal drug trafficking". This case is currently being investigated according to regulations.
