'Carrying' drugs for an online acquaintance, man gets 20 years in prison

On September 11, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of Nguyen Van Hieu (born in 1992), residing in Dien Yen commune, Dien Chau district, for the crime of "Illegal trading of narcotics".drug”.

According to the investigation agency's documents, due to a previous relationship, in early 2020, through the social network Facebook and the Telegram application, a man named Quy (currently in Germany) contacted Hieu and said: "Whenever you need money and want to work for me, just text me."

Defendant Nguyen Van Hieu. Photo: Tran Vu

Around April 2020, Hieu texted Quy saying he needed money, “If you have any work to do, please let me do it.” On May 20, 2020, Quy called Hieu and agreed to carry the box of drugs to a man named Thuong to bring 90 million VND back to Quy. In return, Hieu would receive 8 million VND as a salary. Hieu agreed.

That same day, a man named Thuong called Hieu to meet at Yen Ly intersection to pick up the goods. At 2:30 p.m. the same day, after receiving the package from the bus driver, Hieu took it to a motel in Dien Yen commune to deliver to Thuong. After checking the goods, Thuong said he was going out to get the money, while Hieu was standing in the motel when he was arrested by the police. The evidence in the case was 497 grams of drugs.

In court, the defendant honestly admitted all his actions.sin.Hieu expressed remorse and asked for a lighter sentence.

For the crime of illegal drug trafficking, the People's Court sentenced Nguyen Van Hieu to 20 years in prison.

In this case, there are also men named Quy and Thuong. Because Hieu does not know the full names and specific addresses of these people, the authorities have no basis to handle them.