Trio of three shared 60 years in prison for drug addiction

The People's Court of Nghe An province has just opened a trial of the defendants Lo Xuan Vinh (born in 1983, residing in Chau Phong commune, Quy Chau district), Lo Van Viet (born in 1996, residing in Nghia Thai commune, Tan Ky district) and Ho Minh Truyen (born in 1979, residing in Nghia Hoan commune, Tan Ky district) for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking”.

According to the case file, because they knew each other before, on July 11, 2024, Ho Minh Truyen called Lo Xuan Vinh to order 1 heroin stick and 5 packages of pink phien for 52 million VND. The next day, Truyen transferred the money to Vinh's bank account.

To have drugs to sell, Vinh bought from an unknown man 1 heroin stick and 18 packages of opium. Vinh's purpose in buying more was to store and sell them gradually.

On the evening of July 17, Vinh called Truyen to inform him that he had drugs and made an appointment to come pick up the “goods”. At that time, Viet was staying with Truyen, so Truyen invited him to go get the drugs. Because both of them were drug addicts, and Viet had been given drugs by Truyen many times, this young man agreed to go with him.

Late that night, Truyen and Viet rode their motorbikes to Vinh’s house to get the drugs. Truyen then gave the drugs to Viet to hold and rode his motorbike home. On the way, both were arrested by the police.

On the same day, the Investigation Police Agency, Nghe An Provincial Police issued an emergency arrest warrant for Lo Xuan Vinh. In this case, Vinh must bear criminal responsibility for the act of buying and selling more than 400 grams.

The two defendants Vinh and Truyen must bear criminal responsibility for the act of buying and selling nearly 155 grams of drugs.

At the trial, the defendants all admitted to the crimes as charged in the indictment. Defendant Truyen confessed to trafficking drugs to resell for profit.

Defendant Vinh, despite having been in prison for drugs, still trafficked drugs to resell to Truyen. These two defendants admitted to getting involved in drugs for greed.

Defendant Viet stated that he agreed to go with Truyen because he was addicted and needed drugs. His purpose was to get drugs to satisfy his personal needs.

The defendants all expressed remorse and asked the court to consider reducing their sentences so they could soon return to their families and loved ones.

After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel sentenced Lo Xuan Vinh, Lo Van Viet and Ho Minh Truyen each defendant to 20 years in prison for "Illegal drug trafficking".