Group of young men bought crystal meth to use because they 'don't know how to drink beer'
(Baonghean.vn) - Invited a friend to go out for a beer but because the friend didn't know how to drink, a group of young people invited each other to buy crystal meth to use.
On the morning of February 18, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a criminal appeal trial of Le Ngo Bien (born in 1983), residing in Hung Binh ward, Vinh city, for the crime of illegal possession and trafficking of narcotics.
According to the investigation agency's documents, on the morning of June 19, 2019, Dang Dinh Thang and Nguyen Van Long rode a motorbike from Thanh Chuong district to Vinh city to get an ID card but were unsuccessful. After that, the two went to meet their friend Bui Quoc Tien at the Nghe An province post office.
There, Thang invited Long and Tien to drink beer, but Long said he didn't know how to drink beer, so the three of them discussed and agreed to buy crystal meth to use together. Long called Le Ngo Bien to buy 300,000 VND worth of crystal meth. The two sides agreed to deliver the goods on Nguyen Duc Canh Street.
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| Defendant Le Ngo Bien in court. Photo: Tran Vu |
When Long and Thang were buying drugs from Bien, they were caught red-handed by Vinh City police. The task force confiscated from Long and Thang a package of drugs weighing 0.240 grams. At the same time, they also confiscated 300,000 VND from Bien for selling drugs.
On June 26, 2019, Bui Quoc Tien went to the Vinh City Police Department to surrender and confessed to buying drugs from Bien on June 19 for use with Thang and Long.
During the investigation, Le Ngo Bien confessed that the seized drugs were 1 package of crystal meth and 17 pink pills bought from a young man named Tan (unknown background) in Hung Dung ward for 2.5 million VND. At around 11:30 a.m. on June 19, 2019, Bien divided the drugs and sold them to Thang and Long, leaving the 17 pink pills for later use.
The first instance trial held by the Vinh City People's Court sentenced Le Ngo Bien to 15 months in prison for illegal possession of narcotics and 42 months in prison for illegal drug trafficking. Long, Tien, and Thang received different sentences.
Bien then filed an appeal for a reduced sentence. At today's trial, he gave reasons for his request for a reduced sentence, stating in detail that his family had contributed to the revolution and that he had helped the police arrest drug dealers.
Considering the case as a whole, the Court of Appeal accepted part of the defendant's appeal and decided to reduce the sentence for Le Ngo Bien. Sentenced defendant Le Ngo Bien to 12 months in prison for Illegal possession of narcotics and 33 months in prison for Illegal trafficking of narcotics, the total sentence for the two crimes was 45 months in prison.