The bitter end of two friends who got involved in drug dealing

Going abroad to sell drugs

Husband Song (32 years old) and Cong Ky Giang (23 years old), both living in Kham Cot district, Boly Kham Xay province (Lao PDR), were friends. Both were married and had young children. To make a living, the couple mainly worked on the fields, occasionally going to Vietnam to buy and sell food. From those trips, both of them somewhat knew the way back and forth to the neighboring country.

As social networks grew, these two Lao men quickly caught on to the trend. The smartphone with Internet connection not only helped them to contact the outside world but also to have more relationships for business. However, it was social networks that made Chong Song and Cong Ky Giang pay a heavy price for breaking the law.

The indictment stated that, through social media, Chong Song received messages and became friends with a Facebook account named “Tran Duong”. After initial exchanges, this person proposed to buy 1kg of crystal meth for 4,500 USD. Dazzled by the large amount of money, Chong Song nodded in agreement.

To carry out this business, Song discussed with his friend Giang to buy 1kg of crystal meth on credit and then take it to Nghe An to sell to customers. The two calculated that the purchase price of the drug was 2,500 USD, after deducting expenses, the net profit would be 2,000 USD. With the above profit, Song promised to pay his friend half of the commission. After agreeing on the sharing ratio, the two set a date to carry out the drug transaction.

At 6:00 a.m. on July 13, 2022, Giang took his father's car to get drugs. At the meeting point, a boy about 12 years old ran up to Giang's car and put drugs in it. After receiving the drugs, Giang picked up Chong Song and the two went to Cau Treo Border Gate (Ha Tinh). When they arrived in Vinh City, the customer who bought the "goods" sent someone to pick them up and take them to a house near Vinh market.

That same evening, two Laotians hired a taxi to take them to a hotel in Ha Huy Tap Ward, Vinh City to conduct a drug transaction. However, the taxi was stopped by the police. Inside, the police discovered a package of drugs weighing 963 grams. For the above actions, Chong Song and Cong Ky Giang were prosecuted and brought to trial for the crime of Illegal drug trafficking.

Two friends "led each other" to prison

At the recent trial, through an interpreter, the two defendants admitted to the crimes as charged in the indictment. The two Lao defendants confessed to buying drugs on credit to bring them to Vietnam to sell for profit. In this case, the two defendants played equal roles. Song’s husband was the one who contacted the “customer” and ordered drugs from a Laotian subject (unknown background and address). Meanwhile, Giang was the one who went to get the drugs and then used a car to take his friend to Nghe An to sell.

The representative of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province, who held the right to prosecute at the trial, stated that the actions of the two defendants were in violation of the law. In the spirit of "rule of law", any violator, regardless of who they are, must be held responsible before the law. In this case, the two defendants bought and sold drugs in large quantities. If these drugs were put on the market, it would have serious consequences for many people and would be the seed for other crimes, so they must be dealt with severely to have a deterrent and general prevention effect.

After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel sentenced the two defendants Chong Song and Cong Ky Giang to life in prison for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

So, from being the pillars of the family, Song and Giang were caught up in a life of crime just because of their greed for immediate profit, causing their wives, children, and relatives back home to suffer.

Now, with a life sentence, both understand more clearly that they will have less chance to see their relatives for many reasons, including geographical distance...