Life sentence for woman who followed in husband's footsteps to trade 'white goods' across countries

One day at the end of October, the People's Court of Nghe An province brought defendant Luong Thi Sinh (27 years old), residing in Dong Van commune, Que Phong district, to the first instance trial for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking".

In this case, there were two other accomplices, Vu Duy Kien (29 years old, residing in Minh Thanh commune, Quang Yen town, Quang Ninh) and Nguyen Van Quyet (32 years old, residing in Dai Yen ward, Ha Long city, Quang Ninh). Compared to the time of his arrest, defendant Sinh looked fatter and whiter. The female defendant shed tears when she saw her relatives coming to court.

Defendant Luong Thi Sinh. Photo: Tran Vu

Luong Thi Sinh is the fourth child in a family of five siblings. After finishing 5th grade, Sinh decided to drop out of school and stay home to help her parents with farm work. When she reached adulthood, Sinh fell in love with a young man named Le Ngoc Tuan, who lived in Quy Chau district.

However, that relationship was strongly opposed by Sinh's relatives because the young man was addicted to drugs. However, Sinh remained steadfast in his choice. The two later had a child together. However, Le Ngoc Tuan was later arrested for drug trafficking and sentenced to life in prison by the People's Court of Nghe An province at the first instance trial held at the end of 2018.

After her marriage with her first husband broke down, Luong Thi Sinh left her child with her parents and went to the North to work as a hired hand. There, Sinh found new happiness when she married a man born in 1982. However, the marriage was not happy, so Sinh returned to her parents' house to live. During this time, Sinh began to collude with some of her former drug dealers, Le Ngoc Tuan, to commit illegal acts. Therefore, when an acquaintance from the North contacted her to buy drugs, Sinh immediately agreed to find "goods".

Specifically, on March 19, 2019, Luong Thi Sinh received a phone call from Vu Duy Kien ordering 1kg of crystal meth and 1kg of ketamine. Sinh accepted and the next day went to Thong Thu border gate (Que Phong district) to meet a Lao woman to buy drugs. Through the agreement, this woman agreed to sell Sinh 1kg of crystal meth for 200 million VND, 1kg of ketamine for 300 million VND.

Sinh then informed Kien that he had found the "goods".

Receiving the news from Sinh, Kien asked to borrow 100 million VND from Nguyen Van Quyet and hired this person to take him to Nghe An to buy agricultural products for 5 million VND. Before leaving, Kien prepared a red plastic bucket containing engine oil, salt, and sand with the intention of dumping the drugs in it if the police discovered it.

After finishing the arrangements, Kien and Quyet drove to Que Phong district, then arranged to meet and gave Sinh money to buy drugs. Two days later, Sinh delivered the goods to Kien. When Quyet's car carrying Kien and the drugs reached Quynh Vinh commune, Hoang Mai town, it was discovered by the police.

Seeing the authorities, Kien and Quyet barricaded themselves in the car, then poured the drugs into a bucket that had been prepared in advance to disperse them, but failed. Authorities determined that the amount of solid crystals mixed in the bucket contained 440.71 grams of crystal meth and 1031.01 grams of ketamine.

Defendant Luong Thi Sinh and her accomplices in court. Photo: Tran Vu

At the trial, defendant Luong Thi Sinh admitted all criminal acts. The defendant stated that after the successful transaction, the Laotian gave her 20 million VND as commission, but she did not receive any money from Kien. With that money, the defendant used it to buy an electric bicycle for her sister and buy things for her child. The female defendant burst into tears when mentioning her young child. In her final words before the court deliberated, Luong Thi Sinh asked for a lighter sentence so that she could return home to take care of her child and make up for her mistakes.

The panel of judges determined that in this case, Kien and Sinh were the masterminds, directly buying and selling all the drugs. Although Nguyen Van Quyet did not discuss the case in advance, when he knew that Kien gave money to Sinh to buy drugs and knew that Kien received the drugs, he still drove the subject to Quang Ninh. When discovered by the authorities, he helped Kien to disperse the drugs. Therefore, Quyet was an accomplice who helped Kien. Considering the role of each defendant in the case, the court sentenced Vu Duy Kien and Luong Thi Sinh to life in prison; Nguyen Van Quyet to 15 years in prison for the crime of "Illegal trading of drugs".

The harsh sentence of the law made the defendant Sinh burst into tears. Blinded by the ill-gotten money, Luong Thi Sinh pushed her own life into a dead end, leaving behind a young child who had lost her father and now lacked her mother.