Buying cheap drugs can lead to a 20-year prison sentence.

On June 10th, the Nghe An Provincial People's Court held a first-instance criminal trial to hear the case against defendant Nguyen Van Cong (born in 1991), residing in Quan Hanh town (Nghi Loc district), for the crime of "Illegal possession of narcotics"

Nguyen Van Cong is a defendant with a bad criminal record, having been sentenced to prison five times by courts at various levels for the crimes of robbery, illegal possession of narcotics, and illegal trafficking of narcotics.

On April 25, 2020, Cong completed his sentence, but eight months later, he became involved with drugs again.

Defendant Nguyen Van Cong was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

According to the indictment, around the beginning of December 2020, Cong took a bus to Nghia Dan district to meet an acquaintance named Trung. This person offered to sell him drugs at a cheap price. After this offer, Cong agreed to buy one package of drugs for 28 million VND.

Afterward, Cong took the drugs back to a rented motel room to use gradually. Around 5 PM on December 23, 2020, Cong took the remaining drugs to a friend's house in Vinh City to hang out.

Before entering his friend's house, Cong hid the drugs in a tree stump. After driving for only 15 minutes, Cong was signaled to stop by the police and asked to return to the hiding place. The investigating agency determined that Nguyen Van Cong was responsible for possessing over 224 grams of drugs.

At the trial, the defendant testified that he bought the drugs for personal use, not for resale. He explained to the court that he bought a large quantity because the seller offered a cheap price, so he intended to use it gradually.

The court determined that in this case, the defendant had an aggravating circumstance of recidivism, and therefore sentenced Nguyen Van Cong to 20 years in prison for the crime of "Illegal possession of narcotics".