Young man's wedding day dream shattered because of drug addiction
After the failures of his youth, Trung found a girlfriend who accepted his past. The two were planning to get married, but at the last minute they had to stop because the guy was once again “in jail”. Having to go to jail meant that the guy had to miss his wedding…
After fraud, he got into drugs
One day in late June, Nguyen Duc Trung was escorted to the People's Court of Nghe An province to be tried on two charges of illegal drug trafficking and organizing illegal drug use for others. Tall, stout Trung calmly walked into the courtroom. Below were the sad eyes of the defendant's relatives.
This is Trung's third time in court. While his first offense was a 9-month suspended sentence for theft, his second trial saw him sentenced to 8 years in prison for fraud. At that time, he was only 27 years old.
After that, Trung went to serve his prison sentence at Nghia An Prison (Ministry of Public Security). During his time in prison, instead of training himself and realizing his mistakes, Trung made friends with other inmates, and arranged to be released from prison to sell drugs.
On August 18, 2024, shortly after his release from prison, Trung contacted his former cellmate named Lo (identity and background unknown). Through the conversation, he learned that his cellmate had drugs, so he asked to buy 3 packages of pink heroin and was quoted 9 million VND.
After preparing enough money, Trung put it in a cigarette pack and left it on the table of a sugarcane juice shop by the roadside in Dong Ha City (Quang Tri). Then, following Lo's instructions, Trung went to another location to receive the "goods". That evening, Trung took a bus to Vinh City (Nghe An), hiding the drugs in two locations: a grocery store in the apartment building and his sister's house. Trung's purpose was to gradually sell them for profit.
On the morning of August 26, 2024, Trung invited his friend Ngo Thi D. to his house to use drugs. This guy used his fiancee's phone to contact and order 4 ecstasy pills and 2 million VND worth of Ketamine from a man whose identity and background are unknown.
Trung poured the Ketamine he received onto a ceramic plate and used a plastic card to rub and grind the Ketamine into powder (called stir-frying the Ketamine). After stirring the Ketamine, the young man rolled up a banknote and gave it to his friend to smoke. He also broke the ecstasy pill into two and shared it with his accomplices. While both were high, the police swooped in and arrested them.
Searching Trung’s grocery store in an apartment building in Vinh City, the police discovered previously hidden packages of drugs. The investigation agency determined that in this case, Nguyen Duc Trung must bear criminal responsibility for buying and selling nearly 54 grams of drugs and organizing one person to illegally use drugs.
Lost youth
In front of the witness stand, the defendant did not deny his guilt but admitted to the crime. The defendant said he knew a man named Lo while serving his prison sentence. After being released from prison, because of his drug addiction, the defendant contacted that person to buy drugs. The defendant said that because of his severe addiction, he regularly used drugs.
Trung also admitted to inviting his friend to his house to get high. He was the one who took the initiative to invite his friend to his house, and prepared the drugs and equipment for his friend to use. Trung said that because he was addicted to drugs, he often used the substance even though he knew it was harmful to his health and prohibited by law.
The defendant confessed that he used his fiancée’s phone to contact and buy drugs. He expressed remorse for having affected his fiancée and her family. At the trial, he apologized to her family and asked the court to consider a lighter sentence.
Nguyen Duc Trung is from Quang Tri province. After his early failures, Trung was given the opportunity by his relatives to move to Nghe An to start his life over. He thought that in the new land, he would put his criminal past behind him, recognize his mistakes and change himself. However, his playful and competitive nature made him fall into his own mistakes once again.
According to Trung’s testimony in court, after arriving in Nghe An, he sold groceries at an apartment building. The job helped Trung earn extra income to cover his living expenses. However, he turned his place of business into a place to hide drugs.
“The defendant was once imprisoned, why didn’t he work to support himself and his family? Did he know how humiliated his closest relative, his mother, was by his reprehensible behavior? This is the third time he committed a crime, has he really “turned around” as he promised in court?” The questions from the jury made Trung bow his head.
Below, the defendant’s mother was also sad. Her husband had passed away, and she was raising her children alone. Trung was her only son, so the mother had high hopes. However, her son had made her sad many times. The third time she followed her son to court, the widow must have suffered a lot of sadness. What the mother wanted was for her son to change, to turn around and start a new life.
Who knows if this guy will realize his mistake and turn around and start a new life before it’s too late. But with a 17-year prison sentence for two crimes of Illegal drug trafficking and Organizing illegal drug use, he will have to bury his youth in prison.
The court ended, several relatives ran after the defendant with red eyes. Trung turned his head to tell something. When someone asked about his future wife, the defendant raised his handcuffed hands to his head in helplessness.
