Agreeing to pay off her debt with drugs, the young woman paid a heavy price.
When Hoàng Thị Hà went to collect debts and the debtors offered to pay with drugs, she agreed. After selling drugs to customers for a while, Hà was arrested.
On May 12th, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first-instance trial of three defendants: Tran Van Duong (born in 1993), residing in Long Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district; Hoang Van Duc (born in 1995) and Hoang Thi Ha (born in 1995), both residing in Nghi Kieu commune, Nghi Loc district (Nghe An province), on charges of illegally trading narcotics.
According to the indictment, while working as a beauty therapist for clients, Hoang Thi Ha became acquainted with a man named Dung, from Quang Tri province (whose specific background is unknown). In January 2024, Ha lent Dung 30 million VND.
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When the agreed-upon time passed and Dung still hadn't paid, Ha took a bus to Quang Tri to demand payment. Upon meeting, Dung said he didn't have the money to pay and offered Ha five packets of methamphetamine to settle the debt.
Ha agreed, took five packets of drugs, and then took a bus back to her hometown. She hid the drugs at the edge of the rice field behind her house, waiting for an opportunity to sell them for profit.
On May 25, 2024, Hoang Van Duc contacted Ha to inquire about buying methamphetamine, and the woman quoted a price of 28 million VND for 5 packets of drugs.
At noon that same day, at the foot of the overpass at the intersection of Nghi Trung and Nghi Long communes in Nghi Loc district, Ha sold over 93 grams of drugs to Duc. Duc then resold the drugs to Tran Van Duong for 30 million VND.
After purchasing the drugs, Duong sold 5 pills to a customer for 500,000 VND. Next, while Duong was attempting to sell 10 more ecstasy pills to another customer, he was arrested by the Yen Thanh District police. A search of Duong's residence yielded the remaining drugs.
Expanding the investigation, on September 27, 2024, the police arrested Hoang Van Duc. Then, on November 6, 2024, Hoang Thi Ha was arrested by the police.
At the trial, the defendants admitted their crimes and expressed remorse. Defendant Ha confessed that the drugs originated from debt collectors who asked to settle their debts with drugs.
The remaining defendants admitted that they trafficked drugs for profit, even though they knew it was against the law. They asked the court to consider mitigating circumstances so they could return home to care for their families and children.
After considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel of judges sentenced Tran Van Duong, Hoang Van Duc, and Hoang Thi Ha each to 18 years in prison.
