Nghe An male student becomes drug dealer after Tet party

On March 23, at the People's Court of Nghe An province, the Hanoi High People's Court opened a criminal appeal trial of defendant Mua Ba Xeng (born 1998), residing in Na Ngoi commune, Ky Son district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

Around mid-December 2019, Mua Ba Xeng was a student at a university in Vinh City, so he attended a Mong New Year festival. There, Xeng met a man named Ly (Laotian, unknown origin). Ly asked Xeng to transport 50 packages of drugs to a customer, then take 220 million VND back, and receive 50 million VND as a commission. Faced with the large sum of money, Xeng agreed.

Defendant Mua Ba Xeng. Photo: Tran Vu

On the morning of December 21, 2020, Ly called Xeng to arrange a time and place to pick up the drugs to deliver to the customer. Then, Xeng took a bus from Vinh City to Tuong Duong District to get the drugs and the phone number of the recipient.

From the phone number Ly gave, Xeng contacted Na to ask about delivering drugs. Then, Ly drove Xeng to Lo village, Xa Luong commune, Tuong Duong district, sitting behind and holding the drugs. When they were about 3km from the meeting point, Ly waited while Xeng alone carried the drugs to where Na was waiting.

When Xeng gave the drugs to Na to check, Na gave Xeng the bag of money, Nghe An police raided, arrested Xeng, and seized evidence of more than 1kg of drugs. Taking advantage of Na's negligence, Ly escaped. The court of first instance sentenced Mua Ba Xeng to 20 years in prison.

Then, the High People's Procuracy in Hanoi hadprotestproposed to increase the penalty for Xeng. Because, the 20-year sentence for Xeng is light, not commensurate with the level and criminal behavior of the defendant.

At court, defendant Xeng expressed remorse and asked the court to uphold the original sentence so he could have a chance to return and start his life over.

The defendant also added some new details such as his grandfather was a revolutionary and his father was the deputy head of the medical station and made many contributions to the locality.

In the end, the appellate court rejected the appeal of the Hanoi High People's Procuracy. The 20-year prison sentence for defendant Mua Ba Xeng was upheld.