Journey to track down the 'boss'

Bad past

Born into a poor family on the Lam River, Le Van Truong (born in 1972) residing in Hung Long Commune, Hung Nguyen District is the eldest of three brothers. With a playful nature, all three Truong brothers chose to make their own fortune instead of going to school.

Lacking social knowledge and being lured by friends, at only 27 years old, Truong received his first sentence for illegal drug trafficking with 16 years in prison, leaving behind his elderly parents, wife, children and siblings at home. It was thought that Truong's first stumble in life would be a lesson for the whole family, however, when Truong was about to finish his sentence, his wife, Pham Thi My (born in 1973), was sentenced to 17 years in prison by the People's Court of Nghe An province for the same crime.

As the eldest son, Truong and his wife forced his parents to take care of their grandchildren when they were in their old age. In early 2013, Truong's parents once again heard the shocking news that Truong's two younger brothers, Le Van Kiem and Le Van Hanh, were arrested by Binh Duong Province Police. Through someone asking for information, the family learned that the two remaining sons of the family were also involved in a "huge" drug trafficking ring of up to 600 heroin cakes. As the ringleaders, Kiem and Hanh were sentenced to death by the Binh Duong Province People's Court...

And, in 2015, Le Van Truong finished serving his prison sentence, but "old habits die hard", Truong continued to return to his old ways with increasingly sophisticated and reckless tricks.

The boss hiding behind the guise of an agricultural seller

After being released from prison, Le Van Truong opened a small stall selling agricultural products and soft drinks, but in reality, this was a place where Truong could meet with his gang members without the authorities' knowledge.

He often went to Que Phong district to import goods, but in fact he went to Thong Thu border gate to contact some Lao people to get large quantities of drugs to smuggle into the southern provinces for consumption. In order to avoid detection by the authorities, Truong only brought back agricultural products, while the "hot goods" were secretly delivered by his henchmen and returned at night.

It is worth mentioning that Truong always carries a small knife with him, first to use to separate goods, but it is also a weapon that he is ready to fiercely fight back against the arresting force.

The shady activities of Truong quickly caught the attention of the detectives of the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department. With the above very "professional", cunning and reckless methods of operation, this network existed for a long time. When grasping the rules of the subjects' activities, determining the complex nature of the drug trafficking network led by Le Van Truong, the investigators established a Project with the code 918T to fight and eradicate it. Immediately after the Project was established, the most experienced detectives were deployed to cut off this network.

According to information obtained from the scouts, Truong will take advantage of the rainy weather and the September 2, 2019 holiday to go directly to Que Phong to meet the Lao subjects to get the "goods". Determining that the opportunity to solve the case was ripe, on the morning of August 28, 2019, the Task Force deployed many scouts in coordination with Thong Thu Border Post and professional forces to deploy troops from Hung Nguyen to the Thong Thu border gate area, while monitoring every move of the subjects.

At that time, the scouts encountered many difficulties in the process of ambushing and monitoring, because the weather at this time was extremely harsh. Nghe An was strongly affected by storm No. 4. Meanwhile, the subject operated at night, and the process of the scouts traveling, ambushing, and blocking was very easy to be exposed. However, the scouts were determined to overcome all difficulties, stick to the area, apply professional measures, ensure absolute secrecy, and are determined to successfully arrest the subject.

At around 8:00 p.m. on August 28, 2019, Truong left his house in the direction of Hung Nguyen - Que Phong. At around 2:00 a.m. the next morning, he went to the Phu Phuong intersection in Tien Phong commune, Que Phong district, then went to the house of an acquaintance to rest. When it was completely light, he continued to drive his motorbike alone to Kim Son town.

At 5:00 p.m. on August 29, 2019, the detectives discovered Truong meeting two men of unknown origin, walking down from the edge of the forest. They flashed their flashlights to signal Truong. The drug transaction took place in just a few minutes. Assuming that the subjects had just completed the drug transaction and Truong would bring the "goods" back home that night, the detectives closely followed Truong's movements, waiting for the right moment to arrest him.

At about 11:45 p.m. on August 29, 2019, the subject arrived at the Vinh bypass area in Nghi Hoa commune, Nghi Loc district, then suddenly stopped the car on the side of the road. Truong opened the trunk and took out a kitchen knife as a precaution.

Realizing that the time was ripe to strike, the scouts were ordered to quickly close the circle and approach the suspect. Although surprised, he quickly regained his composure and swung his knife to fight back against the police in an attempt to escape. However, he was arrested in a moment. During the search, the police seized 2 heroin bricks and 1 kg of crystal meth in the trunk of Truong's motorbike.

Death sentence for 1.6 kg of drugs

At the end of February 2020, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance trial for Le Van Truong for the crime of illegal drug trafficking. This was the second time Truong appeared in court for this crime, so Truong understood the sentence he would receive. Unlike other prisoners, Truong did not look back to find his family because his family was now empty, his parents were old and weak, and he had spent 16 years in prison, so Truong did not have a true friend.

Faced with undeniable evidence, Truong admitted to all his illegal acts. He confessed that he regularly colluded with Laotians to buy large quantities of drugs to supply to addicts in the lowlands and bring them to the southern provinces for consumption in order to make illegal profits. The amount of drugs caught red-handed was purchased by Truong for 300 million VND. However, Truong had only paid the subjects 200 million VND in advance, still owing 100 million VND. While on the way to transport them home to smuggle them into Ho Chi Minh City for consumption, he was discovered and arrested by the authorities.

Through appraisal, the amount of evidence collected included 697.36 grams of drugs and 988.83 grams of Methamphetamine. Thus, Le Van Truong must bear criminal responsibility for 1,686.19 grams of drugs.

Considering that the amount of drugs that the defendant bought and sold was very large, the defendant had bad relatives, committed the crime in a case of dangerous recidivism, and had no possibility of reform, the Trial Panel sentenced Le Van Truong to death for the crime of Illegal drug trafficking.