Laotian sentenced to 20 years in prison for smuggling drugs into Vietnam

On September 26, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Xay Da Vu (born 1976), residing in Sam To district, Hua Phan province (Lao PDR) for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

Defendant Xay Da Vu. Photo: Nhu Binh

According to the indictment, on the morning of May 14, 2018, Vu received a phone call from a man named Sa Cong (Laotian) inviting him to bring drugs to Vietnam to sell for profit. In the afternoon of the same day, Vu met Long Dia (Laotian, specific personal background unknown) and bought 10 packages of pink drugs from this man for 7 million Lao kip (equivalent to 20 million Vietnamese Dong). Dia owed Vu money, and he would pay him back when he sold the goods.

At around 6am on May 15, 2018, Sa Cong called Vu and told him to bring drugs to his house. Then the two of them rode a motorbike to an area near the border with Vietnam, hid the motorbike in the bushes and cut through the forest to enter Vietnam.

About 1km into Vietnamese territory in Thong Thu commune, Que Phong district, Xay Da Vu was arrested by the Vietnamese Border Guard and 10 packages of pink phien weighing 204.40 grams of Methamphetamine were seized. Sa Cong quickly escaped.

At the trial, defendant Vu confessed to all of his crimes. Considering the case as a whole, the panel sentenced defendant Xay Da Vu to 20 years in prison for the above crime.