The bricklayer 'pocketed' money from selling his wife's pig to buy kilos of drugs to sell.

On May 11, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial against Lo Van Tuan (born 1987), residing in Chau Kim commune, Que Phong district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

The case file shows that around July 2019, while working as a construction worker in Kim Son town, Lo Van Tuan met a woman who introduced herself as Linh. During the conversation, Linh asked Tuan if he had any drugs to sell. Tuan said he would find out and answer later.

Defendant Lo Van Tuan. Photo: Tran Vu

At around 6am on December 30, 2019, Linh called Tuan to continue asking to buy drugs. Tuan then made an appointment to meet Linh in Thai Hoa town to discuss and discuss in detail. Here, Linh and Tuan agreed to buy and sell 1kg of crystal meth for 160 million VND; 10 bags of pink heroin for 50 million VND.

To have drugs to sell to customers, at 3 p.m. the same day, Tuan called a Mong man to buy drugs. Tuan agreed with that man that 1kg of crystal meth would cost 90 million VND; pink drug would cost 3 million VND per package.

Tuan paid the other man 60 million VND in advance, and asked to delay the remaining amount. After receiving the "goods", at about 7:20 pm the same day, Tuan hired a taxi to go to Quang Tien ward, Thai Hoa town to deliver the drugs. While Tuan was making the transaction, he was arrested by Nghe An province police, with more than 1 kg of drugs as evidence. A man named Linh took advantage of the chaos and quickly fled.

At the trial, Tuan said that because of difficult circumstances and debt, he took the risk of selling drugs. Regarding the money he used to buy drugs, Tuan said he took it from selling his wife’s pig.

For the crime of illegal drug trafficking, Lo Van Tuan was sentenced to life in prison.

In this case, the investigation agency has no basis to prosecute the Mong man (seller) and the woman named Linh (buyer) because Tuan does not know their specific background.