Two foreign students selling drugs in front of the university gate

The People's Court of Nghe An province has just opened the first instance trial of defendant Maichanh Lobouaphone (born 1996), residing in Sam To district, Hua Phan province and Zaloun Southammavong (born 1999), residing in Vieng Kham district, Vientiane province, Lao PDR for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

Both are students at a university in Vinh City. Around the end of April 2022, during a sports exchange with Lao students, Maichanh Lobouaphone met a fellow countryman and was asked by this person to sell drugs for him, promising to pay him.

On the afternoon of June 27, 2022, Maichanh Lobouaphone received a phone call from Nguyen Tat Hung (born in 1976), residing in Tan Son commune, Do Luong district, asking to buy drugs and make an appointment to meet in the evening to make a transaction. That evening, Hung went to a coffee shop opposite the gate of Vinh University to wait to meet Maichanh.

At this time, at the dormitory, a Laotian student brought Maichanh Lobouaphone a styrofoam box containing drugs. Maichanh took it into the room and divided the drugs into two parts, the larger part to deliver to the customer later, the smaller part to store. At this time, Zaloun was lying on the bed and saw the process of his friend dividing and hiding the drugs.

After that, Maichanh Lobouaphone went to a coffee shop to meet Hung, agreed to buy 60 packages of drugs, priced at 120 million VND, but paid half in advance, the rest was deferred. After reaching an agreement, Hung gave 60 million VND to this Laotian student.

After receiving the money, Maichanh Lobouaphone called Zaloun to show him where the drugs were kept and then brought them to the side gate of Vinh University (Bach Lieu Street, Vinh City). While the two were carrying out the drug transaction, the border guards discovered and arrested Hung. Zaloun and Maichanh Lobouaphone ran away but were chased and arrested.

A search of Maichanh Lobouaphone's residence at the dormitory discovered more than 526 grams of drugs. Thus, Maichanh must bear criminal responsibility for the act of buying and selling more than 1.6 kg of drugs; Zaloun is responsible for more than 1.1 kg of drugs.

As for Nguyen Tat Hung, after being arrested, on June 30, 2022, Hung hanged himself. Therefore, the investigation agency did not prosecute the case and did not prosecute this defendant.

At the trial, the two defendants admitted to their crimes. Both said they were Laotian students who came to Nghe An to study but sold drugs for profit. The two Laotian defendants asked for leniency from Vietnamese law.

Considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel sentenced Maichanh Lobouaphone to life in prison and Zaloun Southammavong to 17 years in prison for "Illegal drug trafficking".

Regarding the two Lao students who asked to sell drugs and deliver the "goods" to Maichanh Lobouaphone, because both of them have returned to their country and there is no result of the mutual legal assistance mandate, there is not enough basis to prosecute them criminally.