Two criminal records, stroke but still drug trafficking

On October 4, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Dinh Viet Hai (born 1971), residing in Do Luong town, Do Luong district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking"; Defendant Pham Anh Tien (born 1989), residing in Do Luong town, Do Luong district, for the crime of "Illegal possession of drugs".

Defendant Dinh Viet Hai was sentenced to prison twice for drug-related crimes. Accordingly, in 1998, Hai was sentenced to 18 years and 6 months in prison for the crime of “Illegal possession of drugs”.

Defendant Dinh Viet Hai (left) at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

During the execution of his sentence, Hai continued to commit crimes. Therefore, in October 2012, Hai was sentenced to 24 months in prison for “Illegal drug trafficking”. Combined with the remaining sentence of 4 years, 8 months and 8 days in prison from the previous sentence, the court ordered Dinh Viet Hai to serve a sentence of 6 years, 8 months and 8 days in prison.

Despite being imprisoned many times, Hai still reoffends. According to the investigation documents, on the morning of March 26, 2021, Hai received a phone call from Pham Anh Tien ordering 10 packages of crystal meth. The two sides agreed on a price of 5 million VND.

After that, Tien and two friends, Le Anh Tai and Le Anh Tien, used crystal meth. A while later, when Hai brought the drugs, Tien received the "goods" and paid 2 million VND in advance. At the same time, Tien bought 300,000 VND worth of grass drugs to use. The subjects used drugs by putting grass drugs in pipes to smoke tobacco and grass.

At 11:00 a.m. the same day, a working group of Do Luong District Police came to inspect and confiscated at the scene many packages of drugs and tools used by the subjects to smoke such as plastic bottles and straws.

Searching Dinh Viet Hai's residence, the investigation agency seized 7 packages of drugs weighing more than 70 grams. This was the amount of drugs Hai had previously purchased from a subject to use and sell for profit.

The investigation agency determined that Dinh Viet Hai must bear criminal responsibility for the act of buying and selling more than 78 grams of drugs. Pham Anh Tien must bear responsibility for the act of possessing more than 9.5 grams of drugs.

At the trial, the defendants admitted to the crimes as charged in the indictment. Defendant Hai stated that he was suffering from a stroke, his family was in difficult circumstances, his wife had left him... to ask for a lighter sentence.

Considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel sentenced defendant Dinh Viet Hai to 16 years in prison for "Illegal drug trafficking" and defendant Pham Anh Tien to 5 years in prison for "Illegal drug possession".

As for Le Anh Tien and Le Anh Tai, both were arrested with drug evidence. However, the investigation agency determined that the drugs were not related to Tien and Hai, so they were separated and handled in another case.