The fugitive journey of the young woman who led the drug 'shipping' ring

I dragged my aunt into the drug ring.

Ha Thi Be Dung (born in 1992) is the eldest child in a family of 4 siblings in Que Phong district. After finishing 9th grade, Dung dropped out of school and married a man 2 years older than her. According to relatives, Dung's life was not as peaceful as that of many other women due to turmoil. Dung's husband was a drug addict and had been in prison for a time. Dung's mother also had to serve a sentence for drug-related crimes. To make a living, Dung brought her children to the Central Highlands to live and chose Ea Kueh commune, Cu M'Gar district (Dak Lak) to settle down. Although far from home, this woman still occasionally returned home to visit. Since returning to Que Phong, Ha Thi Be Dung has led a drug trafficking ring for hire from Nghe An to Dak Lak.

To set up the network, Dung also recruited two accomplices, his aunt Ha Thi Mui (44 years old), residing in Chau Tien commune, Quy Chau district, and Truong Van Thinh (20 years old), residing in Tu Nghia district, Quang Ngai province.

Specifically, around the beginning of September 2022, while visiting her hometown, Dung met a Mong man (unknown background and address). This man proposed to hire Dung to transport drugs to Dak Lak for a salary of 70 million VND. Seeing the large sum of money, Dung agreed. However, this young woman did not directly transport the drugs but contacted Truong Van Thinh and Ha Thi Mui to do it. Dung promised to pay each person 13 million VND. Thinh agreed and took a bus to Nghe An to receive the task.

On November 17, 2022, Dung called and instructed her aunt to go to Doc Chuoi area (in Chau Thon commune, Que Phong district) to receive drugs from an unknown person. Receiving the order, Mui rode a motorbike to receive the "goods" and then put the drugs in a snake skin. After that, Mui went to Kim Son town bus station to meet Thinh from the phone number provided by her nephew. When they met at the bus station, Mui drove Thinh with drugs in his hand and headed downstream. After a while, they met a bus, so Thinh put the drugs in his backpack and took a bus to Dak Lak. However, on the way, Truong Van Thinh was arrested by the police with nearly 1.2 kg of drugs as evidence. Based on Thinh's statement, the police urgently arrested Ha Thi Mui.

Journey of Escape

As for Ha Thi Be Dung, after hearing the news that her two accomplices were arrested, she immediately fled Nghe An. Therefore, the police issued a wanted notice for her for the crime of “Illegal transportation of narcotics”. After escaping, Dung went back to Dak Lak province to live as if she had not caused any incident. During her time on the run, Dung gave birth to another child with her husband.

According to Dung’s statement, because she knew that she was wanted by the police, she did not dare to use her real name and age. Instead, she borrowed another woman’s papers to complete the procedures to go to the hospital to give birth. Because she had to have a cesarean section before her due date, the woman stayed in the hospital for observation for a while. Ha Thi Be Dung always believed that with her secret escape, it would be difficult for the authorities to find her whereabouts.

However, the case file related to this young woman is still being monitored by the investigation agency. Around June 2023, after receiving information that Ha Thi Be Dung was hiding in the Central Highlands, a working group went to the scene to verify and coordinate with the local police to capture the wanted fugitive. Through professional measures, on June 28, 2023, Ha Thi Be Dung was arrested while hiding in Ea Wy commune, Eah'Leo district (Dak Lak).

According to the detective, when the police raided, Dung was panicked because he thought his identity had been carefully hidden. Even giving birth to a child, the fugitive had time to create a new identity and a new name for himself. However, faced with undeniable evidence, Dung was forced to put his hands in handcuffs. The police then transferred him to Nghe An to assist in the investigation. At the time of his arrest under the wanted warrant, Dung had given birth less than a month ago.

Price

Recently, the People's Court of Nghe An province brought three defendants, including Ha Thi Be Dung, Ha Thi Mui and Truong Van Thinh, to trial for the crime of "Illegal transportation of narcotics". Although prosecuted as the mastermind and leader of a drug trafficking ring, defendant Dung appeared quite calm. With glasses and white skin, the female defendant constantly turned her head to look at her relatives. When reminded, Dung turned back to answer the questions of the jury.

This defendant admitted to illegally transporting drugs because of greed for 70 million VND. Dung said she did not directly receive and deliver drugs but hired Thinh and her aunt to do the task. Regarding her escape, Dung said that after hearing that her accomplice was arrested, she fled to Dak Lak because she was afraid. Regarding the birth of her fourth child, the female defendant said that she was pregnant before committing the crime. During the process of escaping from arrest, due to premature birth, there was a difference in the time between the defendant escaping, giving birth and being arrested. The defendant said that she is currently in poor health because she just gave birth and her youngest child is just over 4 months old, so she asked the court to apply the preventive measure of prohibiting her from leaving her place of residence to raise her child until the child is 36 months old before serving the sentence.

Appearing in court with her nephew, defendant Mui burst into tears many times, quickly wiping away her tears when being questioned. The female defendant confessed that she participated in the drug trafficking when hired by Dung and had received money. Regarding the 13 million VND she received in the case, she used it all to pay for her children's school fees and for personal expenses. Mui shared that during her days in detention, she felt guilty towards her children and her elderly mother. She had many tormented nights, not understanding why she had so easily fallen into the path of drug trafficking. Mui sobbed and asked the court to consider reducing her sentence so that she could return home soon to take care of her children when her husband passed away.

Considering that in this case, the defendant Ha Thi Be Dung committed the crime as the ringleader and must bear primary responsibility. Therefore, the panel sentenced the defendant Dung to life in prison for the crime of "Illegal transportation of narcotics". Meanwhile, the two defendants Ha Thi Mui and Truong Van Thinh were both sentenced to 20 years in prison. The court did not accept the request to apply preventive measures to return to take care of the fourth child until he was 36 months old, Dung quietly left the court. Witnessing the scene of their mother being escorted to a covered truck to return to the detention camp, the three older children of the female defendant all cried.

Thus, for the crime of “Illegally transporting narcotics”, all three defendants had to pay a heavy price. It is worth mentioning that not only did they have to spend their lives behind bars, but the crimes of the defendants also caused their families and children to be implicated, suffer many disadvantages, and become bad examples for children who are like blank sheets of paper./.