Jailed for selling her late husband's heroin

• On September 16, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a trial of defendant Xong Thi Mai (born 1985), residing in Tri Le commune, Que Phong district, for the crime of "Illegal drug trafficking”.

Around the end of 2021, Mai’s husband died after overdosing on drugs at home. While cleaning her husband’s bed, Mai discovered some western medicine and several packets of pink heroin, so she hid them.

Defendant Xong Thi Mai cried in court. Photo: Tran Vu

On the afternoon of June 5, 2022, while Mai was at home, a man and a woman came by on a motorbike to buy black chicken. After learning that Mai did not have black chicken, the couple asked Mai to buy opium. Mai agreed to sell 30 packages of opium for 50 million VND.

The woman gave Mai 10 million VND in advance, then took the drugs. After that, the customer put the drugs in the trunk of the motorbike and invited Mai to go to the market to buy food.

On the way to the market, the woman got off the car to go to the restroom, while Mai sat on the motorbike waiting, but was discovered and arrested by the police with more than 580 grams of drugs as evidence.

At the trial, the defendant cried and admitted to the crime. Mai said that after discovering the drugs her husband left behind, she put them away to get rid of them. But before she could throw them away, someone asked to buy the drugs, so she sold them.

The female defendant cried and explained her difficult circumstances, her husband passed away, and her young children, to ask for a lighter sentence.

After a comprehensive review of the case, the court sentenced defendant Xong Thi Mai to 20 years in prison for illegal drug trafficking.