From a wildlife trafficker to a drug lord sentenced to death

Lang Van Thai (born 1981) was born and raised in Kim Tien hamlet, Phuc Son commune (Anh Son district). As the 9th child in a family of 11 siblings, Thai's family's economy was not very good.

After finishing 5th grade, Thai dropped out of school to stay home and help his parents with farm work. When he grew up, he followed his friends to Laos to do business. With his entrepreneurial spirit, Lang Van Thai quickly became a professional wildlife trader. The job not only helped Thai develop his economy but also helped this man get to know some Lao people.

Since then, Thai has been in contact with some drug dealers. When these people whispered about the high profit of drug trafficking, Thai secretly looked for customers. Therefore, when a man named Phuong (living in Dinh market, Thanh An commune, Thanh Chuong district) ordered a large quantity of drugs, Thai accepted and went to Laos to find "goods".

Evidence of the case is 7 kg of various drugs. Documentary photo.

Specifically, on January 11, 2019, Thai went to Laos to meet a man named May Van (residing in Phi La village, Xay Kham Phon district, Bolykhamxay province, Laos) to buy 8 heroin cakes for 1.2 billion VND, 4 packages of crystal meth for 800 million VND and 15 packages of pink phien for 35 million VND. With the amount of nearly 2 billion VND, Thai asked to defer the debt "will pay later when sold".

On the evening of January 17, Thai brought the drugs home and hid them in the grass, then called Phuong to agree on the price and delivery location.

On the afternoon of January 18, Thai took a backpack containing drugs and hired a taxi to take him to the Ho Chi Minh trail in Thanh An commune, hiding the "goods" in the bushes on the side of the road, waiting for Phuong to come and receive them. At around 10 p.m. that same day, Phuong arrived at the meeting point to meet Thai.

After the drug test, Phuong told Thai to go meet a friend to check the money, so Thai continued to hide the drugs in the bushes along the road and then went to a motel in Thanh Thuy commune, Thanh Chuong district. When they met, this person said he was going to see and get the drugs, while Phuong stayed at the motel to deliver the money, so Thai called his younger sister, Lang Van Thi, to go to the area where the drugs were hidden to take him home.

At about 2am on January 19, Thi arrived at the meeting place, Thai gave the backpack to Phuong's friend and Thi to hold, while Thai drove the motorbike back to the hotel to receive the money. When Thai just entered the room, he was arrested by the police and taken to the scene where the backpack containing drugs was located for inspection, sealing the evidence, confiscating 2,804.78 grams of heroin and 4,254.87 grams of Methamphetamine.

Lang Van Thai was prosecuted for “Illegal drug trafficking” and was brought to trial by the People’s Court of Nghe An province in mid-October. At the trial, the defendant confessed and admitted all his crimes. The defendant said that if this business deal was successful, he would pocket 300 million VND.

The defendant's sincerity was completely different from the first instance trial held in August 2019. At this trial, Thai did not admit to the crime and said he was forced to confess and panicked.

Explaining this, the defendant said that during his detention, he had thought a lot and could no longer avoid his responsibilities before the law. What worried him during the trial was the future of his two young children (3 and 4 years old) when he had to serve his sentence.

When mentioning his wife and children, the defendant's eyes drooped. If in the previous trial, he had met some relatives in court, this time no one came to attend. His wife who had come to court the last time was also not present today, making Thai confused.

Being alone in court, defendant Lang Van Thai sat alone during the deliberation. Seeing this, the representative of the Procuracy came to encourage the defendant. The courtroom that day was larger and the atmosphere was heavy.

The court found that although the defendant had some mitigating circumstances, Lang Van Thai’s drug trafficking in large quantities should be dealt with strictly. For the crime of “Illegal drug trafficking”, Lang Van Thai was sentenced to death. As for Lang Van Thi, because she did not know her brother was trafficking drugs to stop him and did not know that the backpack contained drugs, she was not prosecuted.

Although he had already determined his sentence, the defendant could not help but panic when he heard the death sentence. Leaving the court without a single relative following him made his steps heavier as if he was trying to drag himself along.