Visiting a sick person at the hospital and 'conveniently' delivering drugs to help a neighbor

On January 8, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Nguyen Van Hoan (born 1975), residing in Cong Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

At around 4:00 p.m. on July 6, 2020, Hoan was at home when he saw Le Van Luong (residing in Cong Thanh commune) standing outside the fence and asked, "Are you going to visit Mr. Q. in the hospital?" Hoan said "yes" and then invited Luong to go with him. Luong said he wouldn't go but "needed to take something to Vinh."

Defendant Nguyen Van Hoan. Photo: Tran Vu

20 minutes later, Hoan arrived at the appointed place to pick up the items and was told by Luong: "Take this and bring it to Vinh for me. I'll take care of the food and transportation expenses on the way back." Hearing that, Luong agreed even though he didn't know what the items were.

When arriving in Vinh City, the recipient agreed to pick up the “goods” in front of the gate of Nghe An General Hospital. During this time, Luong called Hoan and told him: “Only when they give you enough money will we deliver the goods. It doesn’t matter how much or how little. However much they give you, you give that much to me.”

After hearing Luong say that, Hoan realized that the bag contained drugs. Scared, Hoan called Luong many times but could not get through. Hoan did not dare to throw away the drugs or report to the authorities because he was afraid that Luong would take revenge, so he continued to keep the drugs.

Hoan sat waiting at the cafe in front of the hospital gate for a while, then saw a young man driving a car. This man gave Hoan a bag of money, said it was 290 million VND, and asked Hoan to give him drugs.

After receiving money from the buyer, Hoan threw the drugs into the car, but the buyer threw it out and said, “Count the money again, it seems like it’s not enough,” causing the bag of drugs to fall onto the street, next to Hoan’s feet. At that moment, Vinh City Police arrived to check and arrest Hoan. The young man who bought the drugs ran away.

The investigation agency determined that the total amount of drugs that Hoan bought and sold was 986.305 grams.

At court, defendant Hoan initially stated that he did not know the package was drugs. He only delivered it to Luong. Later, defendant Hoan admitted that when he heard the amount of several hundred million, he knew it was drugs, but because he was afraid of Luong, he still delivered the "goods" to the customer.

Considering the case as a whole, the People's Court sentenced Nguyen Van Hoan to life in prison for illegal drug trafficking.

As for the man named Luong, the investigation agency has issued an order to detain him in case of emergency. However, Luong was not present in the locality so there is not enough basis to handle Luong according to regulations.