Drug dealer blames wife after being questioned by police
(Baonghean.vn) - After going to the hospital for a medical examination and finding a source to buy drugs, Duc immediately went to Laos to buy the drugs. When arrested by the police, he changed his statement and blamed his wife.
On the morning of July 25, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Lo Van Duc (born 1990), residing in Xop Duong village, My Ly commune, Ky Son district, for the crime of illegal drug trafficking.
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| Defendant Lo Van Duc at trial. Photo: Tran Vu |
According to the investigation agency’s documents, in January 2019, Duc went to the Northwest Regional Hospital (located in Thai Hoa town) for a medical examination. There, Duc met a man named Quan, so the two exchanged phone numbers to keep in touch.
On February 21, 2019, Quan called Duc to order 24 packages of drugs for 4 million VND/package. Duc then contacted a Laotian man (unknown background) to buy 24 packages of drugs, the two sides agreed on a price of 67 million VND.
At 1 p.m. on February 24, Duc drove a motorbike to Hua Phan province (Laos) to get drugs from a man named Lao. The transaction was successful, Duc took the drugs to his mother's house and buried them in the backyard.
On February 25, Quan called Duc to inform him that he would come in the afternoon to pick up the "goods". Upon receiving the news, Duc immediately took the drugs and hid them in the acacia forest at the Nam Giai intersection, Chau Kim commune, Que Phong district. That same evening, when the two parties were carrying out the drug trade in front of Que Phong District General Hospital, they were discovered by the authorities. The seized evidence was 24 packages of drugs with a total weight of 452.64 grams of Methamphetamine.
On May 2, Duc denounced and changed his testimony, claiming that Luong Thi Phanh (born in 1998, Duc's wife) was the one who directly contacted the Lao man by phone to buy drugs. During the process of transporting 24 packages of drugs from My Ly commune to Kim Son town, Phanh used a towel to wrap the drugs around her stomach to make her pregnant, avoiding detection by the investigation agency.
The police investigation agency has fought with Phanh, organized a confrontation between Luong Thi Phanh and Lo Van Duc, but Phanh did not admit to participating in drug trafficking with Duc. Apart from Duc's testimony, there is no further evidence, so there is not enough basis to prove that Phanh is involved in the case.
In court, Duc confessed and admitted to his crimes. “I was sick and had no money to go to the hospital for treatment, so I took the risk of selling drugs to pay off my debt,” he said, justifying his crime.
Explaining why he only confessed that his wife was an accomplice after being arrested, Duc said that he wanted the case to be tried fairly and wanted everyone involved in drug trafficking to be arrested. The court found that the defendant's testimony did not have enough basis and therefore did not consider it.
Considering the case comprehensively, the People's Court sentenced Lo Van Duc to 20 years in prison for illegal drug trafficking.
