Going into the forest to find cows and 'conveniently'... sell drugs!

On April 1, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Luong Van May (born 1964), residing in Pha Danh commune, Ky Son district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking”.

This is May’s second time in court. In September 2019, May was sentenced to 36 months in prison for drug trafficking. He was released in July 2021. Less than four months later, he was back on drugs.

According to the indictment, in early November 2021, May was approached by two young men who ordered two packages of pink meth for 7 million VND. Because she did not have the drugs yet, May promised to notify her when she had the "goods".

Defendant Luong Van May was sentenced to 15 years and 6 months in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

A few days later, while in the forest looking for cows, May met a Mong man (unknown background and specific address). Knowing that this man had drugs, May immediately ran home to get money to buy 2 packages of pink phien (worth 5.6 million VND). May took the drugs home to hide.

On November 14, 2021, May was arrested by the police while delivering drugs to two customers the day before.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime as charged in the indictment. When asked by the court why he re-offended after being released from prison, defendant May replied: “At first, I refused when the customer ordered drugs, but because they kept insisting on ordering, I agreed.”

The second time facing the sentence of the law, May stated: "The defendant has been in prison so he is very scared, now that he has violated the law again, he asks the court to consider reducing the sentence."

Considering that the defendant's recidivism is an aggravating circumstance and the defendant's honest confession is a mitigating circumstance, the Trial Panel sentenced Luong Van May to 15 years and 6 months in prison for the crime of illegal drug trafficking.