A man with a bad background both pans for gold and 'ships' drugs.

On July 22, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened the first instance trial of defendant Luong Duc Nguyen (born 1972), residing in Thai Nguyen, for the crime of "Illegally transporting narcotics".

Luong Duc Nguyen is a defendant with a bad personal history, having been sentenced to prison five times for crimes.theft of property, storing and organizing illegal use of drugs. In addition, this subject has also been administratively punished 4 times for theft of property.

After being released from prison for a while, around the beginning of May 2024, Nguyen went to Que Phong (Nghe An) to pan for gold. Here, Nguyen met a man named Luc (Mong ethnic, unknown identity and background).

On May 30, 2024, Luc asked Nguyen to transport 6 heroin cakes and 6,000 pink pills to Thai Nguyen bus station. The two sides agreed on a salary of 100 million VND, and would receive the money after successfully delivering the "goods".

Early the next morning, Luc called and gave Nguyen directions to the forest area in Que Phong to receive the drugs. After receiving the bag of drugs from Luc, Nguyen put it in his backpack and walked to Highway 48, took a taxi to a densely populated area to rent a room and wait for a bus.

At 10:00 a.m. on May 31, Nguyen brought a backpack containing drugs to the bus station and was caught red-handed by the police, who seized more than 2.6 kg of drugs.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime. Nguyen said that after being released from prison, he went to the mountainous area of ​​Nghe An to work as a gold miner because of someone's recommendation. Later, because of greed, he agreed to transport drugs for hire. Nguyen said that he was arrested before he could receive his payment.

The defendant expressed remorse, explained his difficult circumstances, and asked the court to consider reducing his sentence.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s actions violated the law and were dangerous to society. The defendant had been sentenced to prison many times but still reoffended, so this was an aggravating circumstance in the case.

After a comprehensive review of the case, the People's Court sentenced defendant Luong Duc Nguyen to life in prison for illegal transportation of drugs.