Taxi driver twice got into trouble with the law for charging 'huge' fares

Suspicious taxi ride

The People's Court of Nghe An province has just opened a trial for 5 defendants on the charge of "Organizing illegal exit for others". The defendants include: To Van Duc (47 years old), Doan Hong Truong (39 years old), Pham Van Ta (58 years old), Luong Manh Cau (43 years old) and Le Huy Hoang (50 years old), all residing in Hai Phong city.

Before being in trouble with the law, the defendants all worked as taxi drivers and knew each other. From their relationship as brothers working together to make a living, the subjects dragged each other to court. The reason was because these 5 defendants together carried out the act of transporting foreign guests.illegal border crossingenter Vietnam to go to another country, knowing that it is a violation of the law.

In this case, To Van Duc is the mastermind and leader of the ring. It is worth mentioning that before this trial, Duc was sentenced to 3 years in prison by the People's Court of Nam Dinh province for organizing and brokering for others to stay abroad illegally.

At the witness stand, with white hair, Duc confessed to his crime. Accordingly, around August 2022, the defendant received a phone call from a man calling himself Huy (unknown background) saying that he had a connection to pick up and take Chinese customers illegally crossing the border into Vietnam. These people did not have legal documents and chose Vietnam as a transit point and would continue to illegally exit to Cambodia and Laos to work.

During the phone conversation, Huy asked Duc if he could pick up and take these people to Lao Bao Border Gate (Quang Tri), he would be paid from 16 to 26 million VND; and if he could take them to Binh Phuoc province, he would be paid from 28 to 45 million VND, and the pay would be based on the trip and the number of people on the vehicle.

The other side also made an additional request that to avoid detection by the authorities, Duc was forced to travel in two stages with a changed route. When passengers got on and off the car, they had to take photos and send videos to Huy to see and confirm. With the promise of being paid a large salary, the taxi driver immediately agreed.

At dawn on January 18, 2023, at an apartment building in Hanoi, Duc picked up 7 Chinese people. This driver arranged 4 passengers in 1 car to go to Binh Phuoc to go to Cambodia, 1 car to take 3 people to Lao Bao Border Gate to go to Laos. Duc did not directly take the passengers but called to hire Doan Hong Truong. This driver accepted and continued to hire Pham Van Ta, Luong Manh Cau and Le Huy Hoang to take passengers to Binh Phuoc and Quang Tri at different prices.

Before leaving, Truong told the drivers that these people did not have legal documents to leave the country and asked them to take photos and videos when picking up and getting off the car. The drivers agreed and started the trip. During the trip, the subjects took turns driving.

However, the journey to bring the group of foreigners to the border gate area was stopped at the toll station of Hoang Mai town (Nghe An). Due to unusual signs of the passengers on the bus, the authorities invited the drivers to work and discovered illegal acts. After hearing the news of their colleague's arrest, To Van Duc and Truong turned themselves in to the police.

Price

At the trial, the defendants did not deny their crimes but admitted to organizing illegal exit for others as charged by the People’s Procuracy of Nghe An province. The defendants admitted that they knew the foreigners were illegally crossing the border without documents but agreed to transport them “for food and clothing”.

As the ringleader and mastermind of the case, defendant Duc confessed that because he had been a taxi driver for many years, he knew many customers. Among them were regular customers and also strangers. Regarding the man named Huy who called to hire him to take foreigners to the border gates, the defendant said he had never met him in person but only contacted him by phone.

“At that time, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the drivers' jobs were difficult. Therefore, when I was hired, I knew it was against the law but still did it because I wanted to earn a little extra money,” Duc testified in court. The defendant further explained that since his arrest, he realized his wrongdoings and was very remorseful. Since then, Duc and the defendants have asked the court to consider reducing their sentences so that they can soon work and support their families and children.

The panel of judges determined that the defendants' actions affected border security protection work, violated immigration management activities of state agencies, caused disorder and insecurity in the locality, and caused panic among the people.

In this case, defendant To Van Duc committed the crime as the ringleader, so the court sentenced him to 3 years and 6 months in prison, combined with the previous sentence of 3 years in prison, forcing him to serve a total sentence of 6 years and 6 months in prison. Defendant Doan Hong Truong received a 3-year prison sentence, suspended. The remaining 3 defendants, including Pham Van Ta, Luong Manh Cau, and Le Huy Hoang, were each sentenced to 2 years in prison, suspended.

For the 7 Chinese citizens, the authorities have handed them over to the Immigration Department of Nghe An Provincial Police to decide on administrative sanctions and deportation.