Woman sentenced to death after going to border gate to buy drugs

Nghe An Provincial People's Court has just opened the first instance trial of defendant Nguyen Thi Hoi (born 1971), residing in Vinh City, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking”. This is the third time this defendant has committed a drug-related crime.

Previously, in 2003, Nguyen Thi Hoi was sentenced to 36 months in prison for "Illegal drug trafficking".

Three years later, Hoi continued to serve a 16-year prison sentence for the above crime. After serving her sentence, in 2017, Nguyen Thi Hoi completed her prison sentence, but then reoffended.

Defendant Nguyen Thi Hoi was sentenced to death by the court. Photo: Tran Vu

According to the indictment, on the evening of April 15, 2022, Hoi went to the area near Thanh Thuy border gate to buy 2 packages of drugs (total weight of more than 1.7 kg) from a Laotian for 175 million VND. On April 22, Hoi took the above drugs to sell to customers and was arrested by the police near a hotel in Vinh City.

At the trial, the defendant confessed to her crime. The female defendant said that if she successfully sold the drugs, she would “profit” 35 million VND. The defendant expressed remorse for her crime.

The jury determined that the defendant’s actions were dangerous recidivism, the amount of drugs bought and sold was large, and there was no possibility of rehabilitation. Therefore, the court sentenced defendant Nguyen Thi Hoi to death.