Man sentenced to life in prison after depositing gold ring to buy drugs

On July 26, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Tran Van Khanh (born in 1986), residing in Thanh Long commune, Thanh Chuong district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

In 2012, Khanh was sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegal drug trafficking; the combined sentence of 30 months in prison for the crime of receiving property obtained through criminal activities by others forced the defendant to serve a total sentence of 12 years and 6 months in prison.

While serving his sentence in prison, Khanh shared a cell with Tran Anh Tai (residing in Hanoi). In February 2021, after being released from prison, Khanh went online to make friends with his former cellmate Tai.

Defendant Tran Van Khanh was sentenced to life in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

On January 18, 2022, Tai contacted Khanh to hire him to transport drugs to Hanoi and would pay him 23 million VND. Khanh agreed, so late that night he went to the area near Thanh Thuy border gate, Thanh Chuong district to meet the Lao people.

Here, the seller asked Khanh to deposit money before getting the drugs. Khanh took off two 4-tael gold rings and gave them to the seller to get the "goods". The two sides agreed that after getting the money from Tai, the seller would deduct the money from Khanh.

Khanh took the drugs home, got some more stuff, and took a taxi to Hanoi that night. When the car reached Dien Chau town, the police arrested him with more than 1.1 kg of drugs.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime. Justifying his reoffending after being released from prison, the defendant said that because of the pandemic, business was difficult, so he bought and sold drugs.

Committing a crime with the aggravating circumstance of dangerous recidivism, Tran Van Khanh was sentenced to life in prison. Regarding Tran Anh Tai, the Nghe An Police Investigation Agency conducted verification but Tai had left his residence. Because there was only Khanh's testimony, there was not enough evidence to investigate and handle the case.