Sentencing of the transporter of rosewood and pangolin scales worth tens of billions of dong
To transport "prohibited goods" across the border, the subjects made secret tunnels under the trailers to evade authorities.
On the morning of June 26, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first instance trial of defendant Le Van Sang (born in 1986), residing in Thanh Dong commune, Thanh Chuong district, and Pham Dinh Hieu (born in 2004), residing in Do Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, for the crimes of "Illegal transportation of goods across the border" and "Transportation ofprohibited goods".
Previously, Le Van Sang and Pham Dinh Hieu were hired by Nguyen Trong Thai (born in 1988), residing in Do Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, to work as drivers and assistants to transport goods from Laos. Because they were not busy with work, Thai and Hieu agreed.
On the morning of August 15, 2023, Sang and Hieu drove a car with license plate 37H - 020.47 towing a trailer to Laos. After arriving in Laos, both of them drove to the warehouse of an unknown Laotian man under Thai's instructions to load the goods onto the car. The "prohibited goods" were placed in the "homemade" secret compartment of the trailer and covered with a metal sheet to hide it.
During the trip, when passing through checkpoints, Hieu was the one who declared, but Hieu always said that the car was not carrying any goods. When arriving at Hung Thong commune, Hung Nguyen district (Nghe An), the authorities checked and all the evidence was confiscated.
Through appraisal, it was found that the 29 confiscated wooden bars had a volume of 2,095 m3All are rosewood worth more than 600 million VND. The remaining 63 white sacks containing scales of giant pangolin, long-tailed pangolin and white-bodied pangolin weighing 2,534.5 kg are worth about 12.6 billion VND.
At the trial, both defendants confessed and admitted their crimes.
Considering the case as a whole, the panel of judges decided to sentence the defendants with a combined sentence for the two crimes of "Illegal transportation of goods across the border" and "Transportation of prohibited goods": Le Van Sang to 8 years in prison, Pham Dinh Hieu to 7 years in prison. Regarding the defendant Nguyen Trong Thai, because he is on the run, when he is caught, he will be dealt with according to the law.
