Man sentenced to 20 years in prison for hiding drugs in grapefruit peels for trading

On October 30, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Ha Van Danh (born in 1983, residing in Na Cong village, Que Son commune, Que Phong district) for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

According to the indictment, at 6:15 p.m. on August 21, 2018, on National Highway 1A, in front of the martyrs' cemetery gate in Quan Bau ward, Vinh city, Vinh city police caught Ha Van Danh red-handed while he was illegally buying and selling drugs. The police seized a grapefruit peel hanging on the motorbike that Danh and Ha Van Binh (born in 1983, residing in Muong Noc commune, Que Phong district) were riding, a package of white crystals and a package of white compressed powder suspected to be drugs.

Defendant Ha Van Danh at the trial. Photo: Nguyen Duong

At the police station, Danh confessed: At noon on August 18, 2018, Danh received a phone call from a woman named Hai in Vinh City ordering 2 taels of crystal meth and 1 heroin plant for 64 million VND.

Two days later, Danh took 47 million VND to the forest in Muong Noc commune to meet and buy from a Laotian 2 taels of crystal meth for 34 million VND and 1 heroin plant for 13 million VND. Danh brought it home, wrapped it in tape, and put it in a grapefruit peel and hid it in his garden.

On August 21, Danh called Hai to inform him that he had drugs and arranged a place to make a transaction in Vinh City. Danh hired Ha Van Binh to take Danh to Vinh for 400,000 VND. However, when both were on their way to the Vinh City cemetery, they were arrested by the police with the above evidence.

At the trial, Ha Van Danh confessed and admitted his crime. Danh said that due to difficult family circumstances, he got into drug trafficking.

In this case, Ha Van Binh was the one who used the motorbike to take Danh to Vinh, but because Binh did not know Danh's purpose was to sell drugs, the investigation agency had no basis to prosecute Binh.

As for the man who sold drugs to Danh and the woman named Hai who ordered the drugs, their identity and specific address could not be determined, so the police did not have enough grounds to investigate and handle the case.

Based on mitigating circumstances, the People's Court sentenced Ha Van Danh to 20 years in prison for "Illegal drug trafficking".