Life sentence for transporter of 6 heroin cakes
(Baonghean.vn) - Just because of greed, Lau Ba Tong (born in 1986, hometown Nam Can commune, Ky Son district) agreed to transport 6 heroin cakes. While transporting the drugs, he was arrested by Nghe An Border Guard.
On December 20, the High People's Court in Hanoi opened a criminal appeal trial of defendant Lau Ba Tong (born in 1986, hometown Nam Can commune, Ky Son district) for the crime of "Illegal transportation of drugs".
According to the indictment, on January 22, 2018, Lau Ba Tong was in Bolikhamxay province (Laos) when three men came and offered to transport 6 heroin cakes to Na Ngoi commune, Ky Son district for 16 million Lao kip (equivalent to 24 million VND), and Tong agreed.
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| Defendant Lau Ba Tong. Photo: Nguyen Duong |
When the three men left, Tong went to meet Ly Ba Xia and invited Xia to transport drugs together, and would split the pay. After that, Tong and Xia walked through the forest into Vietnam.
At around 4:00 a.m. on January 24, 2018, when he arrived at Nam Be village, Xa Luong commune, Tuong Duong district, Tong called a man named Cong to deliver the goods. At 5:00 p.m. the same day, Cong met Tong and both of them carried the drugs on a motorbike back to Nam Can, Xia walked behind.
At around 6:00 p.m. the same day, when Tong arrived at Ang village, Xa Luong commune, Tuong Duong district, he was asked by Na Ngoi Border Guard Station in coordination with Nam Can Border Guard Station and the Drug Control Team, Nghe An Customs Department to stop the vehicle for inspection. They discovered 6 heroin cakes in the 2 pockets of the jacket Tong was wearing, with a total weight of 1,952.96 grams.
At the first instance trial, Lau Ba Tong was sentenced to life imprisonment by the People's Court of Nghe An province. Disagreeing with this sentence, Tong filed an appeal.
During the appeal hearing, Tong repeatedly claimed that he was just a transporter following the orders of the ringleaders. The defendant also insisted that because he was an ethnic minority, had limited knowledge of the law, and had a difficult family situation, he had gotten involved in drug trafficking.
The appellate court found that the defendant's actions were particularly serious. At this trial, the defendant did not present any evidence to mitigate his sentence. The court rejected the appeal and upheld the life sentence for Lau Ba Tong.