Man in Nghe An sentenced to 20 years in prison for transporting more than half a kilo of drugs
(Baonghean.vn) - Meeting a new Laotian friend, Loong Van Hanh (residing in Ky Son district) did not hesitate to accept the offer to transport drugs to Vietnam in exchange for money for his own use.
On October 8, 2019, Nghe An Provincial People's Court convicted defendant Loong Van Hanh (born in 1965; residing in Muong Tip commune, Ky Son district, Nghe An) of "illegal drug trafficking".
 |
| Defendant Loong Van Hanh in court. Photo: An Quynh |
According to Loong Van Hanh's testimony: Around mid-May 2019, Hanh followed a delegation of the Muong Tip commune government, Ky Son district, Nghe An province to exchange with Tham Thao village, Noong Het district, Xieng Khouang province, Laos. There, Hanh met a man named Gia Nhia Bi.
On June 18, 2019, while walking on the bank of the Nam Mo River in Ky Son district, Hanh saw Bi standing on the other side of the Nam Mo river on the Lao border calling out to him, so Hanh waded across to meet Bi.
When they arrived, Bi led Hanh about 5 meters away, then stopped to dig up the ground and took out a bag of snake carcasses and said: "There are 28 packages of pink pills mixed in the rice. Take them to Muong Xen town, someone will come and receive them and give you 75 million VND. Bring the money back and I will pay you." Hearing that the job seemed easy, Hanh immediately accepted without thinking.
On June 27, 2019, Hanh went to the old location to get the bag and then took a bus from Muong Tip commune to Ky Son town. At 10:00 a.m. the same day, seeing Loong Van Hanh showing many suspicious signs, the Muong Ai Border Guard Station's Working Group conducted an inspection and discovered that in the bag Hanh was carrying, there were 28 packages containing pink tablets suspected to be drugs.
The examination showed that the pink pills that Loong Van Hanh was carrying were drugs weighing 545.04 grams. At the trial, Hanh admitted his actions. The defendant expressed remorse and asked the jury to reduce his sentence so that he could return to his family soon.
Based on aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the panel decided to sentence defendant Loong Van Hanh to 20 years in prison for the crime of "illegal drug trafficking".
