Nghe An connects more than 400 points in online trial of firecracker trafficking case

Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a trial for defendants Le Van Duan (born in 1988), residing in Loc Thach commune, Loc Ninh district (Binh Phuoc province), Dang Duc Phuong (born in 1983), residing in Vinh Tan ward, Vinh city (Nghe An) and Nguyen Quang Nam (born in 1973), residing in Nghi Long commune, Nghi Loc district for the crime of "Trading in prohibited goods". Defendant Nguyen Viet Viet (born in 1964), residing in Nghi Long commune, was prosecuted for the crime of "Possession of prohibited goods" on January 21.

This is an online trial. According to Mr. Tran Ngoc Son, Chief Justice of Nghe An Provincial People's Court, this is the first trial of crimes related to fireworks to be tried online, connecting from the central bridge point of the Provincial People's Court to 20 districts, cities, towns and 412 commune-level bridges throughout the province.

According to Mr. Son, the online trial, connecting to the commune level, aims to widely disseminate regulations related to the acts of buying, selling, storing, and using firecrackers to all classes of people. Through the trial, it aims to raise people's awareness, contributing to preventing crimes related to firecrackers.

Regarding the case, the indictment shows that Nguyen Duc Phuong is a hired truck driver who often transports goods from the South to the North, so he knows Le Van Duan. Knowing that Duan lives near the Hoa Lu International Border Gate (Binh Phuoc Province), in August 2024, Phuong came up with the idea of ​​ordering firecrackers to transport to Nghe An to sell for profit.

After Phuong asked him to buy fireworks, Duẩn went through Hoa Lu Border Gate and bought 11 blocks of fireworks (total weight 12.97 kg) from a Cambodian man (name and address unknown) for more than 4 million VND.

After that, Duẩn sold the above fireworks to Phương for more than 6 million VND. After transporting them to Nghe An, Phương sold the fireworks to Nguyễn Quang Nam for more than 7 million VND.

On September 28, 2024, Nam sold Nguyen Viet Viet 8 blocks of firecrackers and Hoang Khac Dieu 3 blocks of firecrackers, priced at VND 800,000/block. Viet and Dieu bought these firecrackers to store and explode during Tet.

After selling all the fireworks, on October 11, 2024, Nam continued to order from Phuong to buy 50 blocks of 36 fireworks at a price of 650,000 VND/block of fireworks.

To have fireworks to sell to customers, on the morning of October 16, 2024, Phuong contacted Duẩn and bought 156 blocks of 36-round fireworks and 5 blocks of 49-round fireworks, for 67 million VND. This time, Duẩn continued to go to Cambodia to buy fireworks to deliver to Phuong.

On the afternoon of October 17, when Phuong transported the above firecrackers to his wife's pharmacy, he was discovered and caught red-handed by the Investigation Police Department of Nghe An Province Police.

The investigation agency determined that Le Van Duan and Dang Duc Phuong must bear criminal responsibility for buying 226.3 kg of firecrackers twice; Nguyen Quang Nam must bear criminal responsibility for buying and selling 80.72 kg of firecrackers; and Nguyen Viet Viet must bear criminal responsibility for storing 12.97 kg of firecrackers.

At the trial, the defendants all admitted to the crimes as charged in the indictment. Defendants Duẫn, Phương, and Nam confessed that they traded firecrackers for resale because of greed. Defendant Việt confessed that he bought firecrackers to store for use during Tet but was discovered by the police.

After considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel sentenced Le Van Duan and Dang Duc Phuong to 9 years in prison each, and Nguyen Quang Nam to 7 years in prison for trading in prohibited goods. For possessing prohibited goods, Nguyen Viet Viet was sentenced to 1 year in prison.