Sentenced to death for 15 million dong

On July 30, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Xong Va Menh (born 1977), residing in Na Ngoi commune, Ky Son district, for the crime of "Illegal trading of narcotics".drug”.

I am a drug addict and have been sentenced to 24 months and 42 months in prison twice for "Illegal possession of drugs" in 2012 and 2016.

After being released from prison, Menh continued to use drugs. Around the beginning of January 2021, while going shopping by motorbike, Menh stopped at the Nam Can market area and met Mua Ba Cua (from Nam Can commune, immigrated to Laos since 2005).

During the discussion, Cua proposed to hire Me to transport 1 kg of crystal meth and 2 large bags of pink heroin to sell to a customer and would be paid 15 million VND. Meh agreed so the two sides exchanged phone numbers.

Defendant Xong Va Menh was sentenced to death. Photo: Tran Vu

On January 31, Cua gave Menh a lot of drugs and gave him the recipient's phone number, and told him to bring back 250 million VND. Menh received the goods, hid them in the forest, and then went home.

Following Cua's instructions, on February 2, Menh contacted the buyer and arranged a transaction at the Tuong Duong District Medical Center. At noon that day, while Menh was holding drugs and waiting for customers, he was arrested by the police with more than 2.2 kg of drugs.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to buying and selling drugs to receive 15 million VND. When asked by the court why he had committed drug trafficking again, Menh remained silent.

Considering that in this case the amount of drugs the defendant bought and sold was large, and the defendant also had the aggravating circumstance of recidivism. Therefore, the panel sentenced Xong Va Menh to death.

As for the man named Cua, because Menh did not know his background or address, the investigation agency had no basis to prosecute him.