The fateful encounter with a prison cellmate of a young man from Nghe An

On the morning of August 26, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Le Tien Tinh (born 1993), residing in Quynh Xuan ward, Hoang Mai town, for the crime of "Illegal possession of narcotics".

Tinh has been imprisoned twice for drug-related crimes. In 2014, Le Tien Tinh was sentenced to 30 months in prison by the People's Court of Tinh Gia District (Thanh Hoa) for "Illegal drug trafficking". Two years later, Tinh was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison by the People's Court of Ba Dinh District, Hanoi for "Illegal possession of drugs".

Defendant Le Tien Tinh. Photo: Tran Vu

Four months after his release from prison, Le Tien Tinh was arrested again for drug-related activities.

According to the investigation agency's documents, on the afternoon of March 26, 2019, Tinh took 40 million VND by bus to Tinh Gia district to buy a pet dog. When he arrived in Tinh Gia district, he met a fellow prisoner named Linh. Linh asked Tinh, "Have you used drugs recently?" Tinh said, "I still use ice." Linh asked, "Do you want to buy the goods? I'll give you a cheap price. If you buy 1 to 2 taels, it's expensive, if you buy a kilo, it'll cost 150 million VND."

Tinh found it cheap so he agreed to buy it and sent 40 million VND in advance, and asked for the rest of the money to be deferred. Then Linh called someone to bring a bag containing drugs to Tinh.

When he got home, Tinh took out some drugs to use and then divided them into 4 small plastic bags and put them in a glass cabinet. Tinh carefully wrapped the remaining drugs.

On the evening of March 27, Tinh took drugs to Thai Hoa town. At about 11:45 p.m. the same day, Tinh went to Highway 48 in Nghia Thuan commune to catch a bus home. While waiting for the bus, the Thai Hoa town police conducted an administrative check and discovered that Tinh was carrying 918.75 grams of methamphetamine in the bag he was carrying.

Immediately after being arrested by the police, Tinh proactively confessed that he had hidden drugs in his rented room. During an emergency search of the rented room that Le Tien Tinh rented in Block 5, Quynh Xuan Ward, the police discovered 4 plastic bags containing drugs with a total weight of 1.08 grams.

At court, the defendant admitted to the crime as stated in the indictment and asked for a reduced sentence to start his life over.

In this case, the defendant had some mitigating circumstances such as: honest confession, family with someone who contributed to the revolution; Previously, Tinh had helped a person in a traffic accident which was confirmed by the government.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s actions were dangerous to society. The defendant committed the crime many times, demonstrating contempt for the law. Considering the case as a whole, the panel sentenced Le Tien Tinh to life in prison for “Illegal possession of narcotics”.