Man who bought pigs and 'conveniently' tested the quality of drugs gets life sentence

On May 28, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Hoang Nghia Lam (born 1979), residing in Long Xa commune, Hung Nguyen district, for the crime of "Illegal possession of drugs”.

Hoang Nghia Lam was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking. In 2016, Lam was released from prison early. Having lived through the life of “eating prison food and wearing a numbered uniform”, Lam still did not know how to turn back and turned to drugs.

Defendant Hoang Nghia Lam was sentenced to life in prison for drug possession. Photo: Tran Vu

On December 15, 2020, Hoang Nghia Lam took a bus to Khe Kien village, Luu Kien commune, Tuong Duong district to buy pigs. When he arrived at Khe Kien intersection, he met a man who knew Lam used drugs so he asked him to take 2 heroin cakes home to test the quality.

Lam took it home, took some out to use, and found that the quality was not good, so he called to report. At noon on December 30, Lam took the drugs back to Luu Kiem commune to return them to the man from the day before, when he saw the police. At that time, Lam jumped off the bridge, took off the raincoat he was wearing, and let his phone and 35 million VND float away. Although he tried to escape, Lam was later arrested by the police with more than 700 grams of drugs.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime as charged in the indictment. Lam stated that he only performed drug tests for the subject in Luu Kien commune and did not purchase drugs.

Considering the case as a whole, the People's Court sentenced Hoang Nghia Lam to life in prison for illegal possession of drugs.