Listening to his 'social brother', the village boy traveled hundreds of kilometers to carry white goods.

On the morning of October 31, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Hoang Van Tam (born 1974), residing in Cam Huy commune, Cam Xuyen district (Ha Tinh) for the crime of "Illegally transporting narcotics".

According to the investigation agency's documents, at about 11:00 p.m. on June 11, 2019, Vo The Anh (born in 1984), residing in Cam Xuyen town, Ha Tinh, asked Tam to go to Truong Banh intersection (Que Phong district) to get drugs for him. Tam agreed.

The Anh gave Tam 500,000 VND for the trip and called a taxi, telling him to "call when you get there." Tam got in the taxi and invited his friend Tran Bien Cuong to go with him.

Defendant Hoang Van Tam at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

At around 6am on June 12, the taxi arrived at Truong Banh intersection in Que Phong district. Here, following The Anh’s instructions, Cuong called Tam to meet the owner of the goods.

About 20 minutes later, a man on a motorbike came up to the taxi and threw a black, transparent plastic bottle, wrapped tightly with tape, through the car window. Tam took it and placed it on the footrest of the car, then the group left.

When the taxi reached the area of ​​​​Moi Hamlet, Chau Thang Commune (Quy Chau District), the Traffic Police Team of Quy Chau Public Security asked the taxi to stop for inspection and confiscated from Hoang Van Tam a transparent plastic bottle containing 200.39 grams of Methamphetamine and 436,000 VND.

At the trial, defendant Hoang Van Tam admitted to his crime. Tam said that “because of a debt of gratitude”, he followed all of The Anh’s instructions. Regarding the amount of money he received in this case, the defendant said he did not know because he had not heard The Anh mention it.

As for Cuong, he said he only went out with Tam so he did not know about the drug trafficking. Because he could not prove his actions, the police sent him back to his hometown. After that, the police summoned him many times but Cuong was not in the hometown. Therefore, he will be dealt with later.

As for The Anh, the investigation agency made an emergency arrest but the subject was not present in the area. With only Tam's testimony, there was no basis for prosecution.

For the crime of "Illegal transportation of drugs" the court sentenced Hoang Van Tam to 20 years in prison.