Death sentence for drug dealer who held mines and gas cylinders for 14 hours in Vinh City
(Baonghean.vn) - In a short period of time, Le Ngoc Son directed his subordinates to buy and sell drugs 3 times with a total weight of nearly 28 kg. To avoid the authorities, the subjects hid the drugs in Ensure milk cartons and sent them by bus.
On August 10, after many days of deliberation, the People's Court of Nghe An province announced the verdict for 8 defendants in the case related to a huge transnational drug ring.
The defendants include: Le Ngoc Son (35 years old, residing in Le Mao ward, Vinh city, Nghe An); Mai Dinh Phuoc (36 years old, residing in Nghe An); Tran Van Luc (40 years old, residing in Nghe An); Nguyen Thi Thom (46 years old, residing in Nam Dinh) for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".
The two defendants Nguyen Quang Bich (34 years old, residing in Nghe An) and Do Quang Thanh (44 years old, residing in Hanoi) were prosecuted for two crimes of "Illegal trading and possession of narcotics".
Defendant Tran Duy Tuong (36 years old, residing in Hanoi) was charged with "Illegally transporting narcotics"; Le Doan An (35 years old, residing in Ha Tinh) was charged with "Failure to report a crime".
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| Le Ngoc Son (blue shirt) was sentenced to death. Photo: Tran Vu |
Before being identified as the leader of a transnational drug ring, Son was the subject who barricaded himself in his house with mines and gas cylinders, causing a stir in public opinion. On August 1, 2018, when the police arrived at his house to execute a temporary detention order for property damage, Son immediately barricaded himself in his house on Hong Bang Street, Vinh City with mines and gas cylinders. The police had to mobilize hundreds of soldiers to the scene. After 14 hours of barricading himself, Le Ngoc Son surrendered.
In this case, the investigation agency determined that Le Ngoc Son directed his juniors to carry out 3 drug trafficking cases.
Specifically, the first time in June 2017, under the direction of Le Ngoc Son, Luc assigned Bich and Phuoc to go to Hanoi to receive 9,591.025 grams of crystal meth to transport to Ho Chi Minh City to sell to a customer. Luc would pay Bich and Phuoc 10 million VND/1 kg of drugs.
The second time, in early July 2017, Son assigned Bich and Phuoc to receive 10 packages of drugs weighing 9,591.025 grams from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City to sell for 3.4 billion VND. Son paid Bich and Phuoc 100 million VND for the work.
The third time, on July 25, 2017, under Son's direction, Bich and Phuoc went to Hanoi to receive 9,591.025 grams of drugs to sell in Ho Chi Minh City for profit. Bich sold 2 packages of drugs weighing 1,918.205 grams to Do Quang Thanh for 700 million VND. Bich "disguised" them in 8 Ensure milk cartons and gave them to Phuoc to transport by bus to Ho Chi Minh City.
At 4:00 a.m. on July 26, 2017, when Phuoc was transporting 8 kg of drugs hidden in a milk carton on a passenger bus from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, he was discovered and caught red-handed by Nghe An police on National Highway 1A, passing through Nghi Long commune, Nghi Loc district.
Based on Phuoc’s testimony, on July 27, 2017, Nghe An Provincial Police arrested Nguyen Quang Bich. During an emergency search of Bich’s residence in Tan Phu Ward, District 9, Ho Chi Minh City, the authorities seized more than 6 grams of synthetic drugs.
The investigation agency determined that the three defendants Le Ngoc Son, Nguyen Quang Bich, and Mai Dinh Phuoc, each defendant must bear criminal responsibility for buying and selling drugs three times with a total volume of 27,773.075 grams of drugs.
The two defendants Luc and Thom must bear criminal responsibility for illegally buying and selling drugs with a mass of 9,591.025 grams.
In court, the defendants admitted their crimes. Son confessed that he had directed his subordinates to carry out drug trafficking many times to illegally earn large sums of money. Facing the death penalty, Son, Bich, Phuoc, and Luc asked the court for a chance to live and start their lives over.
After considering the role of each defendant in the case, the court sentenced four defendants: Le Ngoc Son, Tran Van Luc, Nguyen Quang Bich, and Mai Dinh Phuoc to death. Sentenced Do Quang Thanh to life in prison; Tran Huy Tuong to 20 years; defendant Nguyen Thi Thom to 15 years in prison; and Le Doan An to 30 months in prison.
