"The cunning fox" on the summit of Pù Huột

(Baonghean)After serving two years in prison, Luong Van May showed no signs of reform and instead chose the Pu Huot hilltop area, bordering Con Cuong and Tuong Duong districts, to set up a drug trafficking camp. With a gun in his possession, May was ready to fire if anything happened…

Luong Van May, 41 years old, was born in Pieng O village (Xieng My commune, Tuong Duong district). While many people in this poor commune toiled day and night in the fields to earn a living, May chose a different path to make a living. From a young age, he was nicknamed "the old fox" by the villagers for his cunning and shrewdness. Xieng My commune is traversed by National Highway 48C, the only road connecting Tuong Duong to Quy Hop district, a winding and treacherous route. Bordering Tuong Duong and Con Cuong districts lies the Binh Chuan slope. This towering slope has a strategic location; climbing it is difficult, and descending it is equally arduous. From the top of the slope, one can observe all the developments along the treacherous Highway 48C.

Being cunning and worldly-wise, Luong Van May quickly learned to get rich by selling drugs retail, buying the drugs, dividing them into smaller portions, and selling them to addicts in the village for prices ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 dong. In 2008, May was discovered and caught red-handed by the police of Tuong Duong district, and was subsequently sentenced to 2 years in prison.

After his release from prison, everyone thought May would reform and focus on honest work because in the beginning, he was very well-behaved, staying around the village, occasionally walking up to the top of Pù Huột hill to admire the scenery before returning home to his wife and children. Since his release, May has become much quieter, always seemingly unconcerned about the drug addicts' needs in the village, but few suspected that he was harboring a much bigger plan.

After many sleepless nights, May decided to make a big profit, relying on the Pù Huột peak. Initially, May went to the peak and built a shack, intending to establish a farm, telling everyone he was going there to ask for forest protection. After some time, Lương Văn May revealed his true nature as a drug kingpin. The shack he built was for him and his accomplices to live in and trade heroin, serving the needs of addicts in the three districts of Con Cuông, Tương Dương, and Quỳ Hợp. During the day, May lived in seclusion in the forest and crossed mountains to find sources of drugs; in the evening and at night, he went to the shack to directly manage the drug trade. As a seasoned veteran in the "white death" trade, May established a rule that anyone wanting to buy drugs had to stand 200 meters from the top of the slope and had to have a secret code. He even had his subordinates engrave these codes and regulations on trees.



Pù Huột Pass, where the "cunning fox" Luong Van May established his drug trafficking base.

Although the summit of Pù Huột is a treacherous location, May did not let his guard down against law enforcement. Having embarked on this path, May believed that "survival means wealth, getting caught means death," so he bought an AK rifle and ammunition, knives, and pepper spray to be ready to fight back if surrounded. Since setting up his camp in the forest, the camp owner has not returned to visit his wife and children.

During this time, he acquired a lover, Kiem Thi Ly Vong (born in 1983) from Cang village (Nga My commune, Tuong Duong district). Although she already had a husband and children, Vong voluntarily went to the top of Pu Huot mountain to live as husband and wife with the owner. Besides serving meals, doing laundry, and doing chores for the farm owner, Ly Vong was also trusted with collecting and counting money at the end of the day and delivering the drugs.

Luong Van May's drug den operated openly like a real market. Every day, about 100 drug addicts came here to buy and use drugs on the spot, making Pu Huot peak a terror for the local people. As the drug market flourished, Kiem Thi Ly Vong only handled deliveries and counting money, while Luong Van May recruited Chuong Van Oanh (48 years old) from Binh Chuan commune. Oanh was a heavy drug addict who had served time in prison for trafficking heroin, so May assigned him daily tasks such as fetching water, cooking, and shopping for food, paying him with 3 packets of heroin each day.

Since the drug market opened, the security situation in the area has become very complicated, with a dramatic increase in the number of young people using and becoming addicted to drugs. Police in neighboring districts have repeatedly planned to dismantle this gang, but May is a true "old fox." Whenever trouble arises, he escapes into the deep forest, taking money, drugs, and a gun with him. If surrounded, he is ready to open fire to resist. When the authorities withdraw, May instructs his subordinates to scout ahead, and only when he sees that it is safe does he and his lover return to the camp.

Faced with the rampant activities of Luong Van May and his drug gang, the provincial police leadership and the Drug Crime Investigation Department established Special Case 113M to combat them. After a period of reconnaissance, stakeouts, terrain surveys, and monitoring Luong Van May's activities, on March 16th, the Special Case team decided to launch an operation to capture May. One team was ordered to approach the top of the slope from the bottom of the ravine, while another team cut through the forest on the opposite side to prevent May from escaping. At noon that same day, while May was dividing heroin into small packets, police suddenly swooped in from four directions, shouting, "Stand up, raise your hands!" Caught off guard, May turned around to grab his gun, but the police officers quickly subdued him. The "cunning fox" Luong Van May was forced to surrender and was handcuffed. Immediately, his lover Kiem Thi Ly Vong and his accomplice Chuong Van Oanh also had no way to escape.



Luong Van May (far right) and his accomplices at the trial.

In mid-July, the Nghe An Provincial Court brought the case of Luong Van May and his accomplices to trial. Standing before the court, with his cunning nature, May constantly tried to shift the blame to his lover and those who had not yet been arrested and were hiding in the forest. However, faced with irrefutable evidence, the judges forced May to plead guilty and sentenced him to 16 years in prison for illegally trafficking narcotics and 1 year in prison for illegally possessing military weapons; Kiem Thi Ly Vong to 14 years in prison for illegally trafficking narcotics; and Chuong Van Oanh to 12 months in prison for failing to report a crime…

According to Kha Van Minh, the head of the Binh Chuan commune police, since May's gang was dismantled, the top of Pu Huot hill has become peaceful again. Gone are the days when young people from Quy Hop, Con Cuong, and Tuong Duong would flock to the top of the hill on motorbikes searching for drugs. The people of Binh Chuan and Xieng My are all happy to hear that gang leader Luong Van May and his lover Ly Vong have received their deserved prison sentences!

Thuy Linh