Two brothers lost their lives because of being a 'shipper' once

Orders with shipping fees of hundreds of millions of dong

Xong Ba Tong (31 years old) and Xong Ba Da (25 years old), both live in Na Ngoi commune, Ky Son district (Nghe An). Not only do they live in the same hometown, they also have a close relationship as cousins. In addition, the two subjects also have in common that they dropped out of school early.

Over 30 years old, Tong is the father of 4 young children, the youngest of which is just over 4 years old. 6 years younger than Tong, Da is also a father. To have an economy to support his family, wife and children, both of them mainly work in farming and small-scale animal husbandry. But their peaceful life has been gone since Tong and Da carried out a contract to transport 8 kg of drugs.

On January 16, 2024, Xong Ba Tong received a phone call from Lau Ba Po (32 years old), residing in Muong Tip commune, Ky Son district, asking him to come to his house to discuss work. After that phone call, Tong immediately rode his motorbike to Po's house.

On the way, Tong met Xong Ba Da - his uncle's son, so he stopped to talk. At this time, Da said that he had also seen Po call him that morning but he was busy at that time so he did not answer. Therefore, when Tong invited him to Po's house, Da agreed.

When the two brothers arrived, Po asked them to hire a driver.drugto Thanh Tri bridge (Hanoi). Tong asked again how much, Po said 8 kg and the fee was 160 million VND. Before the above request, Tong agreed but explained that he did not have money for the car. At this time, Po gave Tong and Da each 2 million VND for the travel expenses.

After reaching an agreement, Po handed Tong a sack containing 8 kg of drugs. After receiving the drugs, the two subjects left. On the way, Tong clearly told Da that Po had hired him to transport the drugs to Hanoi, and that each of them would receive 80 million VND as a reward.

Da agreed, so that afternoon he and his cousin took a bus to Hanoi to deliver the "goods". The drugs they brought were put in the luggage compartment of the bus like other bags.

After many hours of traveling, at more than 4:00 a.m. on January 17, when they arrived at Ring Road 3, Hoang Mai District (Hanoi), Xong Ba Tong and Xong Ba Da got out of the car. While both were waiting for customers to receive drugs, they were surrounded and arrested by a working group of Dien Chau District Police (Nghe An) in coordination with functional forces. The evidence of the case was many packages of drugs with a total weight of nearly 8 kg.

Based on the statements of the subjects, the authorities proceeded to verify Lau Ba Po, but this person fled the area. The investigation agency has separated Po's actions to continue verifying and arresting, and will handle them later when there is evidence.

Sentenced to death

The first instance trial of the case of “Illegal transportation of narcotics” against the two defendants Xong Ba Tong and Xong Ba Da, which recently took place at the People’s Court of Nghe An province, was an opportunity for the two defendants to see their families again after many long months in prison.

In the audience, the defendants’ families were exhausted after days of not eating or sleeping. Every now and then, the sobbing of their relatives broke the gloomy atmosphere in the courtroom. Witnessing the suffering of their relatives, the two defendants remained silent, letting their tears roll down. Surely now, the defendants have realized the expensive outcome because they were not brave enough to overcome the temptation of illegal money.

Feeling remorseful, throughout the trial, the defendant Da confessed his crime. The defendant said that when Tong invited him to Po's house to discuss work, he agreed to go. After that, the defendant agreed to take the drugs to Hanoi because he was greedy. According to the defendant, the 80 million VND promised to be paid when the job was done was a large sum of money, so he closed his eyes and committed the wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, defendant Tong gave a evasive statement and did not admit to the crime. Tong said he did not know that the bag that Po delivered contained drugs. He denied the crime but later admitted to the crime.

The defendant bowed his head to show remorse for his evasive testimony. The defense argued that because he was scared and worried about the sentence he would soon receive, he went around in circles to find a chance to live. “The defendant has four young children, I ask the court to give me a chance to live so I can return to my family, wife and children,” the defendant told the court.

The defense attorney for the defendant Da presented many details to request a reduction in the defendant's sentence. According to the attorney's presentation, in this case, the defendant Da did not directly commit the crime from the beginning. The defendant was only a spontaneous, passive employee. The defendant is an ethnic minority with little education, so his legal awareness is limited. The defense attorney hopes that the panel of judges will consider allowing the defendant to receive leniency under the law.

The Trial Panel found that although the two defendants confessed honestly and repented, showing that they were truly awake and remorseful for their actions. However, considering that the defendants' actions were particularly dangerous, violating the State's drug laws and policies; the amount of drugs was large, the defendants no longer had the opportunity to be reformed and educated to become useful people, and needed to be permanently removed from society. For the above reasons, the Trial Panel sentenced the defendants Xong Ba Tong and Xong Ba Da to death.

The death sentence was pronounced, making the eyes of the two defendants red. But the regret of both of them was now too late. Drugs had caused the two brothers to lose their lives, leaving behind a group of helpless children, an uncertain future...