'Carrying' a backpack of drugs, man sentenced to life in prison

On September 9, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a trial of defendant Ho Ba Hu (34 years old), residing in Nam Can commune, Ky Son district, for the crime of“Illegal drug trafficking”.

According to the indictment, at around 7:00 p.m. on April 8, Ho Ba Hu was hunting in the forest when he met a man he did not know. This man hired Hu to transport drugs from Khe Thuy Dien in Tien Tieu village, Nam Can commune to the National Highway 7A area to deliver to someone else. With the promise of paying 10 million VND for the work, Hu agreed.

The man gave Hu a backpack containing drugs. Hu put the backpack on his back and got on the motorbike driven by this man to go deliver the drugs.

At about 8:20 p.m. the same day, when the two reached the trail area in Tien Tieu village, Nam Can commune, the Mon Son Border Guard Station working group in coordination with functional agencies stopped the vehicle for inspection.

At this time, the man driving the motorbike abandoned the motorbike and ran into the forest, escaping. Ho Ba Hu was arrested with evidence of 120 packages of drugs with a total weight of more than 2.2 kg.

At the trial, the defendant admitted his crime and expressed remorse. He said he agreed to transport drugs for hire because of a promise to pay 10 million VND.

The defendant presented his difficult circumstances, divorced from his wife, and is currently raising two young children, asking the court to consider reducing his sentence.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant had transported a large quantity of drugs and therefore needed to be severely punished. However, it was also necessary to consider some mitigating circumstances for the defendant, such as his honest confession, remorse, and family members who had contributed to the revolution.

After comprehensively reviewing the case, the People's Court sentenced defendant Ho Ba Hu to life in prison for the crime of illegal transportation of drugs.

As for the man who transported drugs with the defendant, because Hu did not know his identity or background, the authorities had no basis to prosecute him.