80-year-old woman gambles and transports heroin

On July 7, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a trial for defendant Phan Thi Minh Chinh (76 years old), residing in Trung Do ward, Vinh city, on two charges of "Illegal transportation of narcotics" and "Gambling". Related to the gambling crime are 3 other defendants: Nguyen Van Son (61 years old), Nguyen Van Hung (67 years old) and Hoang Thi Thanh (60 years old), all residing in Vinh city.

According to the indictment, on the morning of July 27, 2022, Chinh, Son, Hung, and Thanh invited each other to gamble by playing "phom" cards, each game from 50,000 to 250,000 VND. Whoever "won" would deduct 50,000 VND as "pool money". At more than 11:00 a.m. the same day, the above 4 subjects were caught red-handed by Vinh City police for gambling.

The investigation agency determined that the gambling money of the subjects was more than 15 million VND. Of which, Chinh had 3 million VND, Son had 5.5 million VND; Hung had 1.9 million VND and Thanh had 5 million VND.

Afterwards, the police urgently searched Chinh's house and discovered 2 heroin cakes (more than 700 grams) in a wardrobe drawer.

Chinh said that this was the amount of drugs he was transporting for a woman he knew in Que Phong district for a fee of 20 million VND. However, before Chinh could bring it to Quang Binh as promised, he was arrested by the police.

At the trial, defendant Chinh admitted to his crime. He confessed that he had served an 18-year prison sentence for drug-related crimes, and that after being released from prison, he agreed to transport drugs for hire because of greed.

The three defendants on trial for gambling also expressed remorse. They also asked the court to consider reducing their sentences due to their old age and poor health.

The panel of judges determined that in this case, the defendant Chinh had aggravating circumstances of dangerous recidivism, but the defendant's repentance and old age were mitigating circumstances. Therefore, the court sentenced Phan Thi Minh Chinh to 20 years in prison for the crime of Illegally transporting drugs and 9 months in prison for the crime of Gambling. The defendant was ordered to serve a total sentence of 20 years and 9 months in prison.

For the defendants convicted of gambling, the court sentenced Nguyen Van Son and Hoang Thi Thanh each to 7 months in prison, but suspended the sentence; defendant Nguyen Van Hung was fined 20 million VND.