Two fellow inmates sentenced to life imprisonment for drug trafficking.
Having met in prison, Tam and Nam conspired to traffic drugs after their release. Their operation was exposed, and both were arrested again.
On November 20th, the Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened the first-instance trial of two defendants: Nguyen Thanh Tam (born in 1956), residing in Kim Son town, Que Phong district, and Duong Tien Nam (born in 1974), residing in Dai Son commune, Do Luong district, on the charge of "illegally trading narcotics".
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Tam and Nam met while serving sentences at Xuan Ha prison – Ministry of Public Security in 2021. After their release, they contacted each other and agreed that Tam would sell drugs to Nam, who would then resell them for profit.
On December 7, 2023, the two parties contacted each other and agreed that Tam would sell Nam 30 packages of methamphetamine for 60 million VND. Nam transferred 40 million VND to Tam in advance, and requested to defer payment of the remaining amount.
Later, Tam contacted a Laotian individual to order 30 packets of methamphetamine. The Laotian person said they currently had 60 packets available, priced at 40 million dong.
At this point, Tam contacted Nam again, informing him that he had 60 packages of drugs and asking if he wanted to buy them all at once, promising to pay after he sold them. Nam agreed.
At 6:00 AM on December 15th, Tam drove his car to the Thong Thu border gate area to conduct a drug transaction with a Lao national. After purchasing the drugs, Tam contacted Nam and arranged to meet at the Sang Le intersection in Tuong Duong district to hand over the "goods".
That evening, upon meeting, Nam asked Tam to drive him to the Yen Ly intersection (in Dien Yen commune, Dien Chau district) to carry out a drug transaction. However, both were arrested by the police while en route. The evidence seized included 60 packets of methamphetamine, with a total weight of over 1.2 kg.
During the investigation and at the trial, the defendant Tam honestly confessed and admitted to the crime.
Meanwhile, the defendant Nam did not admit to buying and selling 60 packets of methamphetamine. During the investigation, Nam initially stated that he had agreed with Tam to buy 30 packets of drugs to both sell and use. When Tam offered to pay for an additional 30 packets, the defendant agreed to buy them.
But then, Nam changed his testimony, admitting to buying only 30 packets of drugs from Tam. At the trial, the defendant Nam testified that he only ordered 30 packets of drugs from Tam.
The court ruled that Nam's change of testimony constituted an attempt to evade legal responsibility. Based on the recorded testimony of defendant Tam and related documents, there is sufficient evidence to determine that defendant Nam purchased 60 packages of drugs from Tam.
After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel of judges sentenced the two defendants, Nguyen Thanh Tam and Duong Tien Nam, to life imprisonment.
