Transporting methamphetamine, sentenced to life imprisonment.

(Baonghean.vn) - Hired by an acquaintance to transport 5kg of methamphetamine from Lang Son to Saigon for 100 million VND, Minh hired Van to transport it for 75 million VND. Van was arrested just as she arrived in Vinh City (Nghe An).

On August 19th, the People's Court of Nghe An province held a first-instance criminal trial to hear the case against Dang Van Minh (born in 1975) and Nguyen Ngoc Van (born in 1970), both residing in Dong Dang town, Cao Loc district, Lang Son province, for the crime of "illegally transporting narcotics".

On the morning of November 18, 2015, Dang Van Minh received a phone call from A Cuong (a Chinese national) who hired him to transport methamphetamine to Ho Chi Minh City for 20 million VND per kilogram. At the border area between Vietnam and China, Cuong handed Minh 5 kg of methamphetamine and gave him an advance of 20 million VND. Minh took the drugs home and hid them.

Subsequently, Dang Van Minh hired Nguyen Ngoc Van to transport methamphetamine to Saigon for 15 million VND per kilogram. Minh gave Van 10 million VND in advance as travel expenses.

Dang Van Minh (left) and Nguyen Ngoc Van (right) before the dock.

On November 19, 2015, Van traveled by train from Lang Son to Hanoi, then bought a bus ticket to Ho Chi Minh City. She hid the drugs under her seat.

At 9 PM on November 19, 2015, when the passenger bus reached the Quan Bau ward of Vinh City (Nghe An province), it was intercepted by the Drug Crime Investigation Department of the provincial police in coordination with the Drug Crime Investigation Department (Ministry of Public Security). Nguyen Ngoc Van was arrested along with 9 packages of methamphetamine weighing over 4.9 kg. Based on Van's confession, authorities arrested Dang Van Minh.

At the trial, the two defendants sincerely confessed to their crimes. Considering the defendants' actions were dangerous, infringing upon the State's exclusive right to buy, sell, and manage narcotics, and given their poor criminal records (Dang Van Minh had previously been sentenced to 3 years in prison for "illegally possessing narcotics" and 8 years in prison for "harboring and facilitating the illegal use of narcotics," with his convictions expunged; Nguyen Ngoc Van had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for "possessing and transporting counterfeit money" and 30 months in prison for "illegally possessing narcotics"), the court sentenced both defendants to life imprisonment for the aforementioned crimes.

Nhu Binh