Death penalty for a village boy who went up the mountain carrying half a kilo of drugs to sell

On October 19, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Ha Ba Chu (born 1987), residing in Na Ngoi commune, Ky Son district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

According to the indictment, Ha Ba Chu met a Laotian man named No Denh during a visit to Laos to celebrate the New Year. After that, the two men kept in touch regularly.

Defendant Ha Ba Chu was sentenced to death. Photo: Tran Vu

In April 2021, Denh contacted Chu and said that someone in Dien Chau district ordered 5 kg of crystal meth for 700 million VND. Denh said he would only take 600 million VND, leaving the remaining 100 million VND for Chu. Greedy, Chu agreed.

About 2 or 3 days later, following the instructions of the Lao people, Chu walked up to the highest mountain area in Nghe An called Phuxailaileng to meet a stranger and received a bag of snake carcasses containing drugs.

Chu then contacted the drug buyer in Dien Chau district to inform him that he had drugs. On April 27, 2021, the drug buyer called Chu to arrange a time and place to deliver the "goods".

At around 9:00 p.m. the same day, when Chu was preparing to sell drugs to customers, he was arrested by the police with evidence of more than 5 kg of drugs and 3 cell phones.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime as charged in the indictment. Defendant Chu stated that because of greed, he agreed to sell drugs to the Laotian.

Facing the death penalty, the defendant presented some details such as his biological father being awarded the "For the Cause of Education" Medal to ask for a chance to live.

However, with the exceptionally large amount of drugs, the People's Court sentenced the defendant Ha Ba Chu.death penaltyfor the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".