The fate of the young man who became addicted to drugs.

A couple with "similar goals"

Lo Van Viet (born in 1996), residing in Nghia Thai commune, Tan Ky district, is the second of two brothers in his family. After graduating from high school, Viet got married and had children early. Despite becoming a father, he did not focus on his work, instead becoming involved with drugs and addiction. This led to Lo Van Viet being sentenced to 12 months in prison for "illegally possessing narcotics" in 2022.

After being released from prison, the young father still couldn't break free from his addiction. Addicted and without a stable job, he often followed his "senior" Ho Minh Truyen (born in 1979, residing in Nghia Hoan commune, Tan Ky district) to do assigned tasks. After these tasks, Viet was usually paid with drugs to use. Once, then many times, Viet became a valuable right-hand man to the man who had three previous convictions.

Ho Minh Truyen has a criminal record, having been in and out of prison multiple times. Truyen's legal troubles began in 2011 when the Vinh City People's Court sentenced him to six months of suspended imprisonment for "theft of property." After his probation period, instead of reforming, he turned to gambling. This led to Truyen being sentenced to 12 months of suspended imprisonment with a 24-month probation period for "gambling" in 2018.

Before his probationary period was over, Truyen committed another crime, "Abuse of trust to misappropriate property," and was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Combined with his previous suspended sentence, the court ordered Truyen to serve a total of 24 months in prison.

After serving his prison sentence for the aforementioned crimes, Truyen became involved with drugs again. From an addict, he committed the crime of "Illegal trafficking of narcotics." It was Truyen who lured Viet into a life of crime.

To obtain drugs for sale, on July 11, 2024, Ho Minh Truyen called Lo Xuan Vinh (born in 1983, residing in Chau Phong commune, Quy Chau district) to order one block of heroin and five packets of methamphetamine for 52 million VND. The very next day, Truyen sent the money for the drugs to Vinh via bank account.

Vinh then contacted an unidentified man to buy one block of heroin and 18 packets of methamphetamine. After purchasing the drugs, on the evening of July 17th, Vinh contacted Truyen to arrange a meeting to pick up the "goods".

At that time, Lo Van Viet was at Truyen's house and overheard the drug transaction between Truyen and Vinh. Although he didn't know about the drug deal between the two beforehand, when Truyen invited him to go with him to pick up the drugs, Viet agreed, thinking that Truyen would give him some after he acquired the drugs.

Late that night, despite the torrential rain, Truyen and Viet decided to go pick up the drugs. They rode their motorbike to Lo Xuan Vinh's house to receive the narcotics. After receiving the drugs, Truyen gave them to Viet to hold while he drove. At 0:30 AM on July 18th, while they were traveling on the road, they were signaled to stop by the police.

At that moment, Viet quickly threw the bag of drugs into the canal. However, his actions were discovered by the police. Based on the suspects' statements, the police issued an urgent arrest warrant for Lo Xuan Vinh.

The 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 "illegally trading narcotics," all defendants admitted to their criminal acts. Defendant Truyen admitted to trafficking drugs out of greed, wanting to earn a lot of money without hard labor. He stated that he knew it was against the law because he had been imprisoned many times before.

When questioned about his purpose in going with defendant Truyen to buy drugs, defendant Lo Van Viet stated that he went along to get drugs for personal use. He explained that he was a drug addict and often received drugs from Truyen. Therefore, when Truyen invited him to go with him to get drugs, he simply thought of going along to get drugs and satisfy his personal needs.

Defendant Viet admitted that he had no motive for trafficking drugs driven by greed. He stated that he had not contacted defendant Vinh beforehand, nor had he invested any money in drug trafficking.

However, the defendant's justification was not accepted by the court. The defendant was a person with full legal awareness. The defendant knew that the illegal buying, selling, storing, and transporting of narcotics were all violations of the law. Furthermore, the defendant had previously served time in prison for drug-related offenses, so he understood the legal regulations. Therefore, the defendant's claim that he only accompanied the defendant Truyen and did not directly buy or sell drugs was incorrect.

At this point, the defendant Viet showed remorse and asked the court to consider mitigating circumstances. He explained that his child was young and needed his care, and requested leniency from the court. He also promised to try to overcome his addiction so that after his release from prison he could become a good father and a good citizen.

After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel of judges sentenced Lo Xuan Vinh, Lo Van Viet, and Ho Minh Truyen each to 20 years in prison for the crime of "illegally trading in narcotics."

Viet's addiction to drugs came at a heavy price. It wasn't just 20 years in prison, but also the grief he caused his family, wife, and children. Viet was imprisoned for the second time when his child was just over 10 years old; therefore, 20 years after his father finished his sentence, that child was nearly 30. This means Viet was deprived of both his child's childhood and adulthood, and had no opportunity to guide and teach them. That is the heavy price the defendant paid for his criminal actions.