Woman hid drugs in neighbor's vegetable garden to sell for profit

On February 14, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Tran Thi Ly (born 1984, residing in Tan Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district) for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

According to the indictment, around the beginning of July 2024, because she needed money for personal expenses, Tran Thi Ly came up with the idea of ​​buying pink heroin to resell for profit. Ly called Dinh Van Giao (born in 1991, residing in Hop Nhan hamlet, Chau Dinh commune, Quy Hop district) to ask to buy pink heroin. Giao agreed and quoted the price of pink heroin at 4 million VND/package. Ly ordered 6 million VND worth of drugs from Giao and agreed that whenever she had the "goods", Giao would deliver them near Ly's house.

About 2-3 days later, Giao called Ly to inform him that the "goods" were about to arrive. Then, Ly walked to the intersection about 100 meters from his house and saw Giao waiting. After receiving the money, Giao pointed to the hidden drug area on the edge of the road at the corner of the intersection opposite Ly's position so that Ly could come and get it himself, while Giao went home. Then, Ly went to get a black plastic bag, opened it, and inside were 2 packages of pink pills. Ly brought them home and counted 360 pills, divided them into 30 small packages, each containing 12 pills, then put them in a glass jar and took them to the neighbor's vegetable garden and covered them with soil and rocks.

At about 6:30 p.m. on July 26, 2024, a neighbor was cleaning the garden when she saw the glass jar above and texted Ly. Tran Thi Ly asked her neighbor to fill it with soil, but the neighbor did not agree and reported it to the police. During the investigation of the scene, the authorities discovered and seized 30 yellow plastic bags, each containing 12 pink round tablets with a total weight of 39.325 grams of drugs.

On July 28, 2024, knowing that she could not escape punishment, Tran Thi Ly turned herself in and confessed to all her actions. According to Ly's statement, she bought drugs from Dinh Van Giao. However, because there was not enough evidence to prove that Giao sold drugs to Ly, the agency had no basis to prosecute Giao.

At the trial, defendant Tran Thi Ly confessed to the crime as charged in the indictment. Ly said she bought drugs to sell for profit because she needed money to spend and raise her children. She also asked the court to consider reducing her sentence so she could return to her children soon.

This is the second time Ly has committed a crime. Previously, in September 2021, Tran Thi Ly was sentenced to 2 years in prison by the Yen Thanh District People's Court for "Illegal drug trafficking".

Considering the case comprehensively, the People's Court sentenced Tran Thi Ly to 15 years in prison for "Illegal drug trafficking".