Helping neighbors store fireworks, both get jail sentences

On the afternoon of June 20, the People's Court of Quy Hop district opened a public first-instance trial for the defendants Ho Ngoc Dung (born 1972), Dinh Thi Diep (born 1975) and Nguyen Ngoc Hung (born 1976), all residing in Block 13, Quy Hop town, for the crime of "Possessing prohibited goods".

Defendants Diep, Dung, Hung in court. Photo: PG

According to the indictment, at about 11:45 a.m. on January 29, 2019, from information from the public, the authorities conducted an administrative inspection and caught Nguyen Ngoc Thai (born 2002), residing in block 13, Quy Hop town, illegally possessing a package of firecrackers weighing 0.2 kg.

From Thai's testimony, the police executed an emergency search warrant at the house of Nguyen Ngoc Hung (Thai's father) and seized 11 boxes of 36-tube fireworks weighing 15.42 kg.

Through the investigation, Thai and his father confessed that the above firecrackers belonged to Dinh Thi Diep and Ho Ngoc Dung, both living in Block 13, Quy Hop town, and asked Hung to keep them for them. Continuing the emergency search of Diep and Dung's house, the authorities seized 2 boxes of square firecrackers, and the subjects also voluntarily handed over 2 more bundles of firecrackers.

The total amount of fireworks seized from the subjects was 30 kg. Dung and Diep admitted that they bought the fireworks from the northern provinces to sell for profit and use during the 2019 Lunar New Year, but were arrested by the authorities before they could sell them.

Seized exhibits. Photo: PG

Based on the evidence and documents examined at the trial, the panel sentenced the defendants Dung to 15 months in prison, Diep to 10 months in prison and Hung to 7 months in prison, all with suspended sentences under Clause 1, Article 191 of the Penal Code.

As for Nguyen Ngoc Thai (Hung's son), the act of storing fireworks was not serious enough to warrant criminal prosecution, so the authorities only decided to impose an administrative penalty.