After serving time in prison for robbery, he was sent to prison for heroin.

On March 2 and 3, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial to try Dao Van Thai (32 years old), residing in Quynh Thach commune (Quynh Luu district) for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

In May 2012, Dao Van Thai was sentenced to 8 years in prison by the People's Court of Quynh Luu district for two crimes of "Robbery" and "Intentionally damaging property". In early 2018, Thai was released from prison ahead of schedule.

One day at the end of 2019, Thai was met by a man named Manh in Quynh Ba commune (Quynh Luu district) who hired him to go to the mountains to get 2 heroin cakes and would receive 10 million VND as a salary. Faced with the large sum of money, Thai agreed.

Defendant Dao Van Thai received 20 years in prison for drug trafficking. Photo: Tran Vu

On December 21, 2019, Thai borrowed a motorbike from an acquaintance and went to Tri Le commune (Que Phong district) to receive drugs from two strange men.

At 3:00 p.m. the same day, when Thai moved to Lien Ban village, Chau Thang commune (Quy Chau district), he was discovered by the police and caught red-handed with evidence of more than 700 grams of drugs.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime as charged in the indictment. The defendant stated that because he had not yet had a stable job after being released from prison, he agreed to transport drugs for Manh.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s criminal behavior was a repeat offense and therefore required strict punishment. However, it was also necessary to consider a number of mitigating circumstances for the defendant.

Considering the case comprehensively, the panel sentenced defendant Dao Van Thai to 20 years in prison.

Regarding the man named Manh, the authorities have conducted an investigation but there was no one in Quynh Ba commune as stated by the defendant Thai./.