Two inmates sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking

On November 20, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened the first instance trial of two defendants: Nguyen Thanh Tam (born 1956), residing in Kim Son town, Que Phong district and Duong Tien Nam (born 1974), residing in Dai Son commune, Do Luong district for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

Tam and Nam met each other when they were both serving their sentences at Xuan Ha Prison - Ministry of Public Security in 2021. After being released from prison, the two contacted each other and agreed that Tam would sell drugs to Nam so that Nam could resell them for profit.

On December 7, 2023, the two parties contacted each other and agreed that Tam would sell Nam 30 packages of opium for 60 million VND. Nam transferred 40 million VND to Tam in advance, and asked for a deferment of the remaining amount.

Then, Tam contacted a Lao to order 30 packages of opium. The Lao said they had 60 packages of opium available, priced at 40 million VND.

At this time, Tam contacted Nam again to inform him that he had 60 packages of drugs and asked if he wanted to buy them now and pay later when he finished selling them. Nam agreed.

At 6am on December 15, Tam drove his car to Thong Thu border gate to trade drugs with Lao people. After buying the drugs, Tam contacted Nam to meet at Sang Le intersection, Tuong Duong district to deliver the "goods".

That same evening, when they met, Nam asked Tam to drive him to Yen Ly intersection (in Dien Yen commune, Dien Chau district) to carry out the drug transaction. However, both were arrested by the police while traveling on the road. The evidence of the case was 60 packages of pink drugs, with a total weight of more than 1.2 kg.

During the investigation and at trial, defendant Tam confessed and admitted to his crime.

Meanwhile, defendant Nam did not admit to buying and selling 60 packages of heroin. During the investigation, Nam initially stated that he had agreed with Tam to buy 30 packages of drugs to both sell and use. When Tam lent him 30 more packages of drugs, the defendant agreed to buy them.

But then, Nam changed his testimony, admitting that he only bought 30 packages of drugs from Tam. At the trial, defendant Nam said he only ordered 30 packages of drugs from Tam.

The panel of judges determined that Nam’s change in testimony was an evasion of responsibility before the law. Based on the transcript of defendant Tam’s testimony and related documents, there was sufficient basis to determine that defendant Nam had purchased 60 packages of drugs from Tam.

Considering the case comprehensively, the People's Court sentenced the two defendants Nguyen Thanh Tam and Duong Tien Nam to life in prison.