Three sisters-in-law face maximum penalty

(Baonghean.vn) - Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a criminal trial, the first instance trial of the case of illegal drug trafficking involving hundreds of heroin cakes. All six defendants including 1 male and 5 female face the highest penalty of death, of which 3 defendants are sisters-in-law.

They are Vu Duc Manh (49 years old), residing in Vi Xuyen ward, Nam Dinh city, Nam Dinh province); Nong Thi Han (37 years old), residing in Dak NDrung commune, Dak Song district, Dak Nong province); Truong Thi Hue (38 years old), residing in Hong Son ward, Vinh city; Nguyen Hoai Thu (33 years old); Nguyen Thi Chau (45 years old), all residing in Tien Phong commune, Que Phong district; Nguyen Thi Nhung (37 years old), residing in Thai Hoa town (Nghe An).

Defendants at the first instance court

After many postponements, on September 30, the case was brought to trial as scheduled. The participant in the proceedings at court was a female sister of the defendant Han, who lives all the way in Hoa Binh. Ms. Giang was present as a victim related to lending defendant Hue 6.5 thousand USD for business but used to buy and sell heroin. In addition to Ms. Giang, the remaining relatives of the defendants were also present. Defendant Hue's husband is serving an 8-year life sentence for drug trafficking, and her two young children, who are from Bac Can, so no one was present at court.

The most heartbreaking thing is Cuong, the son of defendant Nhung, 4 years old, mute from birth, who followed his father to see his mother but was not allowed into the auditorium according to the rules. Nhung's husband, holding his young child, sadly said: "Nhung told me she was going to Que Phong to sell coffee to help her sister, but after 2 days she did not return, I called and found that the phone was not reachable. The next morning, I heard from relatives that my wife was arrested..., the phone in my hand also fell to the ground without me knowing... Now I have to accept being a single parent raising my children and my father over 80 years old... it is so miserable". Hung still carelessly played with the phone in his hand without knowing that his mother was facing the penalty of the law and did not know when she would hug and kiss him in tears and regret. It was his mother who was hired to transport 30 heroin cakes and was caught red-handed while handing the heroin to a man to sell.

The incident took place on July 31, 2012, when Vu Duc Manh and Nguyen Thi Nhung were handing over 30 heroin cakes at Vinh Station when they were caught red-handed by Nghe An Provincial Police in coordination with the Department of Drug Crime Prevention of the Ministry of Public Security. Expanding the investigation of the case, the Criminal Police Department arrested and urgently searched 4 other subjects, and seized 40 heroin cakes from Nguyen Hoai Thu's room in the dormitory of Tien Phong Secondary School, Que Phong District (Nghe An).

During the investigation and struggle, the Investigation Police Agency clarified that from March 2012 to July 31, 2012, Nguyen Cong Hai, residing in Quy Hop district, Nghe An, established a drug trafficking ring with hundreds of heroin cakes from abroad to Vietnam. The subjects participating in Hai's ring, including Vu Duc Manh, Truong Thi Hue, Nong Thi Han, Nguyen Hoai Thu, Nguyen Thi Chau, Nguyen Thi Nhung, carried out 10 illegal drug trafficking transactions from Nghe An to Ho Chi Minh City and to Lang Son province for consumption with a total of 255 heroin cakes.

Nguyen Cong Hai and his accomplices bought all of this heroin from a foreigner named Xi Dinh. Hai created the source of heroin, Manh connected the line in Ho Chi Minh City. Hue was the contact in Lang Son. During the process of buying and selling heroin, the defendants in the case did not weigh to determine the weight but only transacted with each other by the quantity of heroin cakes and sold them for 8,000 USD/cake, so the authorities agreed to calculate an average of 345 grams/1 cake.

What is worth mentioning in this case is that Nguyen Thi Nhung is the sister-in-law of Nguyen Hoai Thu, the sister-in-law of Truong Thi Hue, but because of greed, the sisters-in-law dragged each other into the law. The police investigation agency also clarified the behavior and level of crime for each defendant as follows: Vu Duc Manh colluded with Nguyen Cong Hai, Truong Thi Hue, Nong Thi Han to participate 9 times, buying and selling 155 heroin cakes, total weight 53,276 grams, illegally profiting over 720 million VND. Manh played a very important role in the case, being the main consumer of all of Hai's heroin. After selling the heroin, all the illegal profits were transferred to Hai through the accounts of Nguyen Thi Thanh Canh (Hai's wife) and LTHD with a total amount of over 15 billion, 141 million VND and transferred to the accounts of Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang (Vu Duc Manh's wife) and Ngo Viet Long (Manh's brother-in-law) with a total amount of over 3 billion 725 million VND.

Truong Thi Hue participated in 9 transactions of 150 heroin cakes with a total weight of 51,750 grams. The investigation agency also determined that Truong Thi Hue committed the crime as a participant in drug trafficking and was an effective assistant to Nguyen Cong Hai in committing the crime. The illegal profits Hue made in the previous transactions were kept by Hai to contribute capital to buy the next trip, Hai then divided 800 million VND for Hue.

Nong Thi Han was an active participant in transporting heroin for Nguyen Cong Hai and Truong Thi Hue. Because of greed, when Truong Thi Hue invited Nong Thi Han to join in transporting heroin from Vinh City to Ho Chi Minh City for consumption, Nong Thi Han immediately agreed. Nong Thi Han participated in 6 cases, with a total quantity of 85 heroin cakes, total weight of 29,325 grams, illegally profiting 250 million VND. On October 2, upon hearing the court's verdict, Han's husband traveled more than 1,600 km from Dak Nong province to Vinh City to see his wife and hear the court's verdict.

Nguyen Hoai Thu is a teacher at Tien Phong Secondary School (Que Phong District, Nghe An). Thu admitted to being aware of the harmful effects of drugs, but due to greed, Nhung colluded with Nguyen Cong Hai and then lured her sister-in-law, Nguyen Thi Nhung, into drug trafficking. Initially, Thu only contributed 59,400 USD, but then, following Nguyen Cong Hai's instructions, on July 31, 2012, Nguyen Hoai Thu and Nguyen Thi Nhung gave money to a foreign drug dealer named Xi Dinh and received 70 heroin cakes, with a total weight of 24,155 grams. Thu then took all of the heroin to hide in her room at Tien Phong Secondary School, Que Phong District, to sell for illegal profit.

Nguyen Thi Nhung is the sister-in-law of Nguyen Hoai Thu, and the sister-in-law of Truong Thi Hue. Because Thu enticed Nhung, she personally drove Thu to meet the ringleader Xi Dinh to deliver foreign currency and receive 70 heroin cakes. Then, under the direction of Nguyen Hoai Thu, Nhung transported 30 heroin cakes from Que Phong district to Vinh city to deliver to Vu Duc Manh. However, during the process of committing the crime, Nhung had not yet benefited from it when she was caught red-handed delivering heroin to Manh at Vinh station on the night of July 31, 2012.

Nguyen Thi Chau participated in drug trafficking with Nguyen Cong Hai. Initially, Nguyen Thi Chau gave Hai 66,000 USD to buy 10 heroin cakes, but after selling the heroin to Chau, Hai did not pay Chau but kept the money to persuade Chau to buy more heroin. In this case, Chau participated in 50 heroin cakes 3 times, with a total weight of 17,250 grams, including the money Hai lent, and has not received any illegal profit because both the capital and interest are included in the heroin that was seized. Nguyen Cong Hai is the subject who supplied drugs from abroad to Vietnam to sell to Vu Duc Manh and his accomplices, but Hai has fled, and the investigation agency is currently wanted.

After a day of interrogation, in the indictment, the People's Procuracy proposed the death penalty for 4 defendants including defendants Manh, Hue, Thu and Han, and life imprisonment for 2 defendants including defendants Nhung and Chau. After 2 days of deliberation, on the morning of October 2, 2013, the Chief Justice said that because some relevant details in the case were still contradictory and needed to be clarified, the court returned the case file for further investigation.

Le Thanh Binh (Nguyen Van Cu, Vinh City)