Sentenced to 20 years in prison for young man renting apartment in Vinh City to 'lay out' drug trafficking

On August 17, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of Hoang Ngoc Hai (born 1998), residing in Son Hai commune, Quynh Luu district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

According to the investigation agency's documents, on February 9, 2020, Hai contacted a person named Ha in Ho Chi Minh City to order 150 grams of ketamine and 100 ecstasy pills for 80 million VND. Ha agreed.

Defendant Nguyen Ngoc Hai. Photo: Tran Vu

The next day, Hai went to Vinh bus station to receive the drugs he had ordered via bus. After receiving the drugs, Hai brought them back to the apartment he rented in Vinh City, used a small scale to divide them into many small packages, and hid them in the shoe cabinet in front of the room.

At 1 p.m. on February 12, a person calling himself Huyen called Hai to order 6 pills of drugs and 4 ketamnine "shirts" (ie 4 ketamine packages) for 4 million VND, and arranged to make the transaction at the old Ba Lan hospital. After that, Hai put the drugs in a plastic bag and used black tape to wrap it. When Hai was carrying the drugs out of the elevator, Vinh City Police caught him red-handed.

Searching Hai's residence, police seized many packages of drugs under the mattress in the bedroom and in the shoe cabinet.

In court, the defendant admitted his crime and asked for a reduced sentence.

It is known that Hoang Ngoc Hai had served in the police force and thus understood the law. However, the defendant stated that he participated in drug trafficking because of greed.

In this case, the defendant had some mitigating circumstances such as confessing honestly, having relatives who contributed to the revolution, and the defendant having helped authorities arrest criminals.

Considering the case as a whole, the court sentenced Hoang Ngoc Hai to 20 years in prison for illegal drug trafficking.