The end of a guy who got stuck in 'white goods'

"Like-minded" couple

Lo Van Viet (born in 1996), residing in Nghia Thai commune, Tan Ky district, is the second child in a family of two brothers. After graduating from high school, Viet got married early and had children. Although he became a father, this man did not work hard, but instead got involved in drugs and addiction. That is the reason why Lo Van Viet was sentenced to 12 months in prison for "Illegal possession of narcotics" in 2022.

After being released from prison, the young father still could not break away from the “brown fairy”. Addicted and without a stable job, he often followed his “senior” Ho Minh Truyen (born 1979, residing in Nghia Hoan commune, Tan Ky district) to do assigned tasks. After that time, Viet was often paid with drugs to use. Once and many times, Viet became a right-hand man for the man who had “carried” 3 criminal records.

Ho Minh Truyen is a subject with a bad personal history, having been in and out of prison many times. Truyen started getting into trouble with the law in 2011. That year, he was sentenced by the People's Court of Vinh City to 6 months in prison with a suspended sentence for "Theft of property". After the probationary period, he did not work hard but instead went back to gambling. That is the reason why Truyen was sentenced to 12 months in prison with a suspended sentence of 24 months for "Gambling" in 2018.

Before the probation period ended, Truyen committed a new crime of "Abuse of trust to appropriate property" and was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Combined with the previous suspended sentence, the court ordered the defendant Truyen to serve a total sentence of 24 months in prison.

After serving his prison sentence for the above crimes, Truyen got involved with drugs again. From an addict, he committed the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking". It was Truyen who lured Viet into the path of crime.

To have drugs to sell, on July 11, 2024, Ho Minh Truyen called Lo Xuan Vinh (born in 1983, residing in Chau Phong commune, Quy Chau district) to order 1 heroin tree and 5 packages of pink phien for 52 million VND. The very next day, Truyen sent money to buy drugs for Vinh through a bank account.

Vinh then contacted an unidentified man to buy 1 stick of heroin and 18 packets of opium. After purchasing the drugs, on the evening of July 17, Vinh contacted Truyen to arrange to pick up the “goods”.

At that time, Lo Van Viet was at Truyen's house so he heard the drug transaction between Truyen and Vinh. Although he did not know about the drug transaction between the two, when Truyen invited him to go get drugs together, Viet agreed because he thought that after Truyen bought the drugs, he would give him some.

Late that night, despite the pouring rain, Truyen and Viet still decided to go get the “goods”. The two rode their motorbikes to Lo Xuan Vinh’s house to receive the drugs. After receiving the “goods”, Truyen gave the drugs to Viet to hold while he drove. At 0:30 on July 18, while the two were traveling on the road, the police signaled them to stop.

At this time, Viet quickly threw the bag of drugs into the canal. However, the police discovered his actions. Based on the statements of the suspects, the police issued an emergency arrest warrant for Lo Xuan Vinh.

A high price to pay

At the trial of the three defendants Lo Xuan Vinh, Lo Van Viet, and Ho Minh Truyen for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking", the defendants all admitted to their crimes. Defendant Truyen admitted to trafficking drugs for greed, because he wanted to earn a lot of money without having to do hard work. This defendant stated that he knew that it was a violation of the law because he had been imprisoned many times.

When questioned about the purpose of going with defendant Truyen to buy drugs, defendant Lo Van Viet stated that he went along to get drugs to use. This defendant stated that he was a drug addict so Truyen often gave him drugs to use. Therefore, this time when defendant Truyen invited him to go with him to get drugs, he simply thought of going along to get drugs to satisfy his personal needs.

Defendant Viet admitted that he did not have any motive for drug trafficking because of greed. Because he had not previously contacted defendant Vinh, nor did he spend money to traffic drugs.

However, the defendant's justification was not accepted by the jury. Because the defendant is a person with full legal awareness. The defendant clearly knows that buying, selling, storing, and illegally transporting drugs are all violations of the law. Moreover, the defendant himself was imprisoned for drugs, so he will clearly understand the provisions of the law. Therefore, the defendant's statement that he only accompanied defendant Truyen and did not directly buy and sell drugs is incorrect.

At this point, the defendant Viet expressed remorse and asked the court to consider reducing his sentence. The defendant explained that his child was still young and needed his father's care, so he asked the panel of judges to consider leniency under the law. The defendant also promised to try to quit his drug addiction so that after his release from prison, he would become a good father and a good citizen.

After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel sentenced Lo Xuan Vinh, Lo Van Viet and Ho Minh Truyen each to 20 years in prison for "Illegal drug trafficking".

Burying himself in drugs made Viet pay a heavy price. It was not only 20 years of living in prison but also made his relatives, wife and children sad. Lo Van Viet went to prison for the second time when his son was just over 10 years old, so 20 years after the father finished serving his sentence, the son was almost 30 years old. That meant that Viet did not witness his son's childhood and growth, and did not have the opportunity to teach him. That was the heavy price the defendant had to pay for his crime.