The bricklayer withdrew money from selling his wife's pig to trade in... 'white goods'.
(Baonghean.vn) - One time when he went to Kim Son town to work as a construction worker to make a living, Lo Van Tuan was asked by a woman to buy drugs. A few months later, the strange customer's urging and inquiries made Tuan think. Then, Tuan decided to spend all his money and secretly take the money his wife saved from raising pigs to... trade drugs.
The trial of Lo Van Tuan (33 years old), residing in Chau Kim commune, Que Phong district, for the crime of “Illegal drug trafficking” took place quite quickly when the defendant admitted all the crimes as charged in the indictment. However, the defendant’s statement that he “took money from selling his wife’s pig to trade drugs” surprised everyone present at the trial that day, among whom the most shocked person was the defendant’s wife.
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| Defendant Lo Van Tuan in court. Photo: Tran Vu |
Lo Van Tuan is the youngest in a family of 3 siblings. With a 9/12 education level, Tuan mainly does manual work to earn a living. When he came of age, Tuan married a woman 2 years older than him. The two have 2 children together. Life is not rich but not too poor when Tuan works as a construction worker every day while his wife raises pigs and chickens to develop the economy and takes care of their daughter and manages the family's work.
The family home was quite peaceful until one day, Lo Van Tuan followed a group of workers to Kim Son town (Que Phong district) to do a construction project. Around the end of September 2019, while working as a worker, Tuan happened to meet a woman who introduced herself as Linh. Through the conversation, Linh asked if she wanted to buy drugs. At that time, Tuan did not immediately agree but exchanged phone numbers, made an appointment to find out more and then answer later.
After a while, on December 30, 2019, Tuan received a phone call from Linh asking, “Do you have any drugs yet?”. Tuan answered “yes” and then arranged to meet in Thai Hoa town to discuss the details. At the meeting point, 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.
After negotiating with the customer, at 3 p.m. the same day, Tuan called a Mong man in Tri Le commune, Que Phong district to buy drugs. Tuan agreed with the man that 1kg of crystal meth cost 90 million VND; pink drug cost 3 million VND per package. Tuan paid 60 million VND in advance, asked to delay the remaining debt and the seller agreed.
At around 7:20 p.m. the same day, after buying the drugs, Tuan hired a taxi to Quang Tien ward, Thai Hoa town to deliver the "goods" but was arrested by Nghe An province police, with more than 1 kg of drugs as evidence. Thus, Lo Van Tuan met the customer, bought the drugs and delivered the goods to the buyer within just 1 day. If this deal had been successful, Lo Van Tuan would have pocketed a huge profit of 90 million VND.
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| In court, Tuan cited difficult circumstances to justify his crime. Photo: Tran Vu |
In court, Tuan cited difficult circumstances to justify his crime. The defendant said that because his job as a construction worker was unstable and his income was unstable, he got into drug trafficking to make a profit. Because of his "circumstances", he only paid a small amount in advance and asked the seller to delay the debt for the rest. When asked by the court about the money he used to commit the crime, Tuan said that it was the money from selling his wife's pig, which he secretly stole, plus the money he had saved up before.
In response to Tuan's answer, a judge immediately asked back: The defendant's family raised pigs and saved such a large amount of money, so it cannot be blamed on poverty. That is a large sum of money, especially for the highland area where the defendant lives. The defendant did it out of greed, because he wanted to earn a large sum of money without having to work. Hearing that, Tuan bowed his head and remained silent.
Among the many people attending the trial that day, Ms. Vi Thi V. sat quietly watching her husband's testimony. The news that her husband had arbitrarily taken the money she had saved from raising pigs to buy drugs made this woman's face fall. Sad about her husband's illegal actions, but in court, this woman did not blame him but sent words of encouragement to Lo Van Tuan to reform well.
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| Although Tuan's wife, Ms. V., was sad, she still encouraged her husband. Photo: Tran Vu |
The panel of judges determined that in this case, the defendant Lo Van Tuan had only one mitigating circumstance, which was his honest confession, so he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime of illegal drug trafficking. As for the woman named Linh and the man who bought the drugs, because Tuan did not know their background or specific address, the authorities did not have enough grounds to investigate and handle the case.
Her husband received an indefinite prison sentence, and Ms. V. left with a heavy face. Her husband being in prison means that from now until many years to come, Ms. V. will be the only one to support the family and raise her children./.
