Young father lost his life because he was a 'transporter' for strangers
(Baonghean.vn) - Lia is a young father of 4 children, his life is not rich but peaceful in the mountains and forests. But then, the peace in that house is no longer there when Lia participates in transporting nearly 7 kg of drugs. The price that the young father had to pay was his life.
Denh Ba Lia (34 years old), residing in Nam Can commune, Ky Son district, appeared in court for transporting nearly 7 kg of drugs. With such a large amount of drugs, many people attending the court could somewhat guess the sentence that Lia was about to receive. Looking at the image of Lia sitting huddled, her face full of fear, not daring to turn her head to look at her relatives, no one would think that Lia would dare to risk his life to transport a whole sack.drugto get $500 salary.
Like most young people living in the mountains, Lia dropped out of school after grade 3. Although Lia's parents knew that dropping out early would mean hardship and an uncertain future, because they had many children, they had to let their 7th child drop out of school.
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| Defendant Lia at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu |
Living in the village, Lia got married early. Having four children at once made the family's already difficult economic situation even more difficult. To raise the small group of children, Lia worked hard on the fields.
On the afternoon of July 30, 2020, Denh Ba Lia finished his field trip when the sun was almost down. When he reached the Vietnam - Laos border area in Nam Can commune, Lia met two strange men. These two men started talking to Lia, introducing themselves as Laotians. Then, these two men asked Lia to transport 7 packages of drugs to the inter-commune road in Noong De village, Nam Can commune, and would receive 500 USD as a salary. Hearing about the large sum of money for just a short distance in the commune, Lia could not refuse.
Immediately after that, Lia was given a blue sack containing 7 packages of drugs and 500 USD as payment by 2 Lao people. Lia gave the 2 Lao people his phone and then carried the drugs home to hide in the kitchen. At 8:00 p.m. on July 31, the Lao people called Lia to inform her that the drug recipient had arrived and asked her to bring the drugs down to them.
The Laotian sent the buyer's phone number, so Lia immediately contacted him but the other side did not pick up.
After waiting for a while, Lia went into the kitchen, put the bag of drugs on the front of the motorbike, and went to deliver it to the customer. More than an hour later, when Lia was transporting drugs on the road in Noong De village, Nam Can commune, she was inspected and discovered by the Do Luong District Police in coordination with the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department of Nghe An Police, and the Nam Can International Border Gate Border Guard Station.arrest.
Because of debt, pay with life
In court, defendant Lia did not deny the crime but admitted to transporting drugs. Lia stated that for the amount of 500 USD, he agreed to transport drugs for 2 Lao people.
The defendant admitted that he knew it was against the law, but because of debt, pressure from having many children, and difficult circumstances, he committed the crime. With the $500 in wages, the defendant said he used it all to pay off his debt.
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| The defendant's wife attended the trial. Photo: Tran Vu |
“The defendant knows that transporting drugs like that is wrong, but I ask the court to return the motorbike that I was using that day to my wife. I made my wife and children suffer. If I am sentenced to death, my wife and children will have a means of transportation and business…”, Lia stated.
Sitting and listening to her husband's testimony, the wife's eyes were filled with sadness. She was 33 years old, but because of hard work and having given birth many times, she looked much older than her age. Since her husband was arrested, the economic burden and the burden of having children fell on this woman's shoulders.
However, with the exceptionally large amount of drugs, the prosecutor requested the highest sentence for Lia. Her husband was about to face the highest sentence, so during the deliberation, his wife could only suppress her pain and calmly send words of encouragement. Not knowing what they said to each other in their native language, both of them sobbed. A few rows away, the defendant's children cried loudly.
The panel of judges determined that drugs are becoming a major threat to all of humanity. The consequences caused by drugs are very serious in the economic, political and social fields, and are also the cause of the emergence and development of drug crimes, significantly affecting the stability, prosperity and longevity of the country and the nation.
Considering the case in its entirety, the panel sentenced Denh Ba Lia to death for “Illegal transportation of narcotics”. As for the two Laotians who hired the defendant to transport the drugs, because Lia did not know their background or specific address, the authorities had no basis to handle and investigate.
Because of greed, Lia had to pay with his life. When he was arrested and sentenced to death, not knowing when he would have to pay the penalty, Lia regretted but it was too late.
