Sentenced to prison for trafficking more than 400 mortars

On March 26, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened an appeal trial of defendant Vo Van Phap (34 years old, residing in Nghi Hoa commune, Nghi Loc district) for the crime of "Trading in prohibited goods".

Case records show that in May 2023, Vo Van Phap contacted and ordered 420 36-round mortars (for VND 84 million) from a man from the same hometown who worked in Thailand.

In October 2023, France received the “goods”. The above fireworks, France hid in an empty lot near his house. After a while, fearing being discovered, France asked someone to find another place to hide the fireworks.

On November 14, 2023, France sold 160 mortars to a man in Cua Lo town for 104 million VND. In addition, France also sold 20 mortars to a woman, earning more than 37 million VND.

6 days later, the customer in Cua Lo continued to order fireworks, so Phap invited people to pick up the "goods". When the subjects were taking the fireworks to sell, they were discovered and arrested by the police. During the search, the authorities seized the remaining fireworks. In this case, Phap and the subjects were responsible for 420 kg of fireworks.

The court of first instance then sentenced defendant Vo Van Phap to 10 years in prison for trafficking in prohibited goods. Phap appealed for a reduction in his sentence, arguing that the sentence was too high.

At the appeal hearing, the defendant expressed remorse and asked the court to consider reducing his sentence so that he could soon return to his family and take care of his children.

The defendant presented new details that he had saved a drowning person and was confirmed by a support facility in Yen Thanh district that he had helped people in difficult circumstances to request a reduction in his sentence.

The appellate court accepted the defendant's appeal and revised the first instance sentence from 10 years in prison to 8 years and 3 months in prison for defendant Vo Van Phap.