International drug smuggler posing as seafood trader

Living in Phieng Hong village, Bo Nhia village cluster, Noong Het district, Xieng Khouang province (Laos), Thoong Dam Kham Vieng Xay (born in 1996) often went to the forests bordering Vietnam and Laos to exploit wood. However, Vieng Xay's work was interrupted when the Lao government decided to close the forest.

Defendant Thoong Dam Kham Vieng Xay. Photo: Tran Vu

Being lazy and wanting to have a lot of money to spend, Vieng Xay contacted drug dealers and dealers in the area to participate in transporting "white goods". This subject quickly became an important link in the chain of illegal drug transportation from across the border to Vietnam.

Because he had crossed the border between Laos and Vietnam, Vieng Xay was quite familiar with the rugged mountainous terrain. Through previous business relationships, this subject sought to connect with drug dealers in Vietnam, from there finding ways to transport drugs from across the border to Vietnam to sell for profit.

Despite his secretive and sophisticated activities, the illegal actions of this subject were detected and monitored by the Nghe An Border Guard. However, Vieng Xay's familiarity with the terrain and routes on both sides of the border made it difficult for the authorities to fight him.

But with the determination not to let Thoong Dam Kham Vieng Xay continue to sow "white death" in Vietnam, in July 2019, Nghe An Border Guard established a special project to arrest this subject.

From that point on, all activities of Vieng Xay were closely monitored, with the aim of thoroughly understanding the subject's methods and tricks of operation. After a period of monitoring, the detectives got information that the subject often personally transported goods to trade with the ringleaders.

Evidence of the case. (documentary photo)

Also from the information obtained, the detectives determined that at the end of August, Vieng Xay prepared a large quantity of goods to be shipped to Vietnam for consumption. In the guise of a man selling seafood, Thoong Dam Kham Vieng Xay crossed the border carrying a large quantity of drugs disguised in styrofoam boxes to Vietnam for trading.

However, Vieng Xay's shipment was stopped by authorities when he arrived in Keng Du commune, Ky Son district. Evidence seized at the scene was 1 package of drugs (opium resin) weighing 1,000 grams and 26 packages of drugs weighing 526.75 grams.

At the first instance criminal trial of Thoong Dam Kham, on August 25, 2019, two Lao men named Xinh Thoong and Pa Dinh came to his house to hire him to transport drugs to Vietnam to deliver to a man named Thanh for a fee of 1,500,000 Kip. Faced with the large sum of money, the defendant agreed. The two parties agreed that they would receive the payment when the "goods" were successfully delivered.

During the process of illegally crossing the border from Laos to Vietnam, the defendant often contacted a recipient named Thanh. Over the phone, Thanh told the defendant that he was waiting in a pickup truck on the road in Keng Du commune. At around 12 noon that day, when he discovered the blue pickup truck as instructed, the defendant took the package of drugs and opened the door to get in the truck, but was discovered and arrested by the Vietnamese Border Guard. The people in the car drove away.

At the witness stand, the defendant presented his difficult circumstances and his youth, which led to his crime, and asked for a reduced sentence and leniency from Vietnamese law.

The panel of judges determined that in this case, the defendant had a mitigating circumstance of confessing honestly. As for the two Laotian men who hired Vieng Xay to transport drugs and the Vietnamese man named Thanh (who received the drugs), because Vieng Xay could not determine his identity or specific address, the police did not have enough grounds to investigate and prosecute.

For the crime of "Illegal transportation of drugs", Thoong Dam Kham Vieng Xay was sentenced to 20 years in prison.