Taxi driver took foreigners out of the country illegally
(Baonghean.vn) - For profit, Duc and his accomplices illegally took a group of Chinese people out of the country. During the journey, the subjects were arrested by authorities in Nghe An.
On October 27, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a trial of 5 defendants including: To Van Duc (born 1976), Doan Hong Truong (born 1982), Pham Van Ta (born 1965), Luong Manh Cau (born 1980) and Le Huy Hoang (born 1973), all residing in Hai Phong city, for the crime of "Organizing illegal exit for others".
The defendants all worked as taxi drivers. Around August 2022, Duc received a call from a man calling himself Huy, saying he had a connection to pick up and take Chinese customers illegally crossing the border into Vietnam without legal documents. Vietnam was a transit point for these people to continue illegally exiting to Cambodia and Laos to work.
Huy raised the question: if Duc accepts and takes these people to Lao Bao border gate (Quang Tri), he will receive a salary ranging from 16 to 26 million VND; and if he takes them to Binh Phuoc province, he will receive from 28 to 45 million VND (salary paid according to the trip and number of people on the vehicle).
To avoid the authorities, Huy asked Duc to take the car in two stages. When the Chinese got on the bus at the pick-up and drop-off points, he had to take photos and send videos to Huy for confirmation. To the above request, Duc agreed.
At about 4:30 a.m. on January 18, 2023, after receiving a phone call from Huy, Duc picked up 7 Chinese people at an apartment building in Hanoi. Duc arranged for 4 people to get on a car to go to Binh Phuoc province to go to Cambodia, and 1 car to take 3 people to Lao Bao border gate to go to Laos.
Duc then contacted Doan Hong Truong to hire him to transport passengers. He then hired Cau, Ta, and Hoang to transport passengers to Binh Phuoc and Quang Tri. Before the trip, Truong told the drivers that they did not have legal documents to leave the country and asked them to take photos and videos when picking them up and getting off the car and send them back.
At about 8:25 a.m. the same day, when the two cars arrived at the toll station in Hoang Mai town (Nghe An), they were discovered and arrested.
At the trial, the defendants all admitted to their crimes. As the mastermind, Duc stated that because the Covid-19 pandemic was affecting his job as a driver at that time, when he was hired, he accepted the offer to earn more money.
The remaining defendants confessed that due to the nature of their work, they agreed to take foreign guests to provinces and cities to earn money.
The panel of judges determined that the defendants’ actions violated the law and affected border security. As the ringleader and mastermind, defendant To Van Duc was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison; combined with the previous 3-year prison sentence, this defendant must serve a total sentence of 6 years and 6 months in prison.
Defendants Pham Van Ta, Luong Manh Cau, and Le Huy Hoang received 2-year prison sentences, suspended; defendant Doan Hong Truong received 3-year prison sentences, suspended.
