Former teacher sentenced to death for drug use.

On December 28th, the Nghe An Provincial People's Court held a first-instance criminal trial to hear the case against defendant Lau Ba Xia (born in 1974), residing in Nam Can commune (Ky Son district), for the crime of "Illegal trafficking of narcotics"

Lầu Bá Xìa is a teacher at Mường Lống Secondary School (Kỳ Sơn). On May 19th, Xìa received a phone call from a man named Nguyễn Văn Hoàng (residing in Da Nang City) ordering 4 kg of methamphetamine, 200 bags of ecstasy pills, and 2 blocks of heroin. Xìa agreed and told Hoàng that the "goods" would be available in a few days.

Later that evening, Xia called Lau Giong Xa (a Lao national) to order the drugs. Xa reported having only 2 kg of methamphetamine, 97 bags of ecstasy pills, and 2 blocks of heroin. Xia agreed to buy them for 840 million dong.

Defendant Lầu Bá Xìa was sentenced to death. Photo: Trần Vũ

Later, Xia informed Hoang and quoted a price of 930 million dong. Hoang agreed and arranged to receive the "goods" at a guesthouse in Chieu Luu commune (Ky Son district).

On the afternoon of May 22nd, Xia received the drugs from Xa as previously agreed. Afterward, Xia took all the drugs to a guesthouse in Chieu Luu commune that Hoang had booked in advance. That evening, while Xia was in the guesthouse room waiting for the drug buyer to arrive, the police raided the place and caught him red-handed with over 4.5 kg of various types of drugs.

At the trial, the defendant Xia admitted to buying and selling drugs, but claimed that he played only a minor role in the case.

The defendant admitted to having worked in the education sector for many years and being well-versed in the law, but succumbed to drug addiction due to financial gain.

Given the exceptionally large quantity of drugs, the court sentenced Lầu Bá Xìa to prison.death penaltyRegarding the crime of "Illegal trafficking of narcotics".