Nghe An Court sentenced to death 3 defendants in a billion-dollar drug trafficking ring

On May 25, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of Nguyen Xuan Trung (born 1987), residing in Le Loi ward, Vinh city, for the crimes of "Illegal possession and trading of narcotics" and ""Illegal possession of military weapons"; Two defendants Cao Tien Son (born 1995), residing in Ngoc Son commune, Do Luong district and Tho Ba Mai (born 1996), residing in Tri Le commune, Que Phong district were prosecuted for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

Having no jobs and needing money to spend, the three defendants Trung, Son, and Mai set up an illegal drug trafficking ring. The investigation agency clarified that from April to May 2020, the three subjects had bought and sold drugs twice with a total weight of 5.5 kg.

Three defendants were sentenced to death for drug trafficking. Photo: Tran Vu

The first time, in April 2020, Son ordered 1kg of drugs from Trung for 120 million VND to sell to a customer in Hai Phong. Trung contacted Mai to order 1kg of drugs for 120 million VND. After receiving the drugs, Son sold them to the customer for 300 million VND.

The second time, on May 17, 2020, Trung ordered from Mai 2 cakes of heroin (weighing more than 700 grams) and more than 3.8 kg of drugs for 1.48 billion VND. On May 19, Trung gave Son 800 million VND to meet Mai to get the "goods" and gave Son 20 million VND as commission. The next day, Cao Tien Son went to Mai's place to get the drugs, but on the way back, he was caught red-handed by the police, who confiscated all the drugs.

In addition, in May 2020, Nguyen Xuan Trung also illegally possessed more than 23 grams of various drugs including ketamine, cannabis, cannabis resin...

From April 2019 to early 2020, Trung illegally possessed 2 guns of military type, 7 bullets...

At the trial, the three defendants admitted their crimes. The three defendants said they got involved in drug trafficking out of greed. Facing the death penalty, all three begged for a chance to live.

Considering that in this case, the amount of drugs that the defendants participated in buying and selling was large, the panel sentenced the three defendants Nguyen Xuan Trung, Cao Tien Son, and Tho Ba Mai to death for the crime of illegal drug trafficking. In addition, defendant Trung must also receive an additional sentence of 7 years in prison for illegal possession of drugs and 3 years in prison for illegal possession of military weapons. Defendant Trung must serve a combined sentence of death.