Woman goes to court to sell corn abroad
After buying more than 64 tons of corn kernels from a Laotian, Huong hired a truck to transport them back to her country to sell. However, the corn shipment was detained by authorities because it had no invoices or documents, and did not complete customs declaration procedures when passing through the border gate... and Huong herself was arrested for smuggling.
On November 15, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened the first instance trial of defendant Luong Thi Huong (born 1976), residing in Thong Thu commune, Que Phong district, for smuggling.
According to the indictment, because she lived near the Vietnam-Laos border, Huong often went to Laos to trade agricultural products. On December 20, 2023, Huong went to Laos and bought 64.4 tons of corn kernels from a local man at a price of VND3,000/kg.
Huong then rented a truck and trailer to Laos to transport the corn back to Vietnam for sale. When the truck was on its way to Thai Hoa town (Nghe An) to deliver the goods to customers, it was discovered by Nghe An Provincial Police.
Authorities discovered that the corn had no invoices or documents and did not go through customs declaration procedures when passing through the border gate. The corn was valued at 320 million VND.
After a period of detention, this woman was released on bail to serve the investigation.
At the trial, the defendant confessed her crime. The female defendant cried several times, explaining that she was illiterate and did not understand the regulations on cross-border trading of goods.
When the Lao people persuaded him to buy corn to bring back to Vietnam to sell for profit, the defendant agreed. The defendant stated that he paid 194 million VND for the corn, and the procedures for goods passing through the border gate were handled by the seller.
The defendant expressed remorse, explained his difficult circumstances, was illiterate, was an ethnic minority, and had limited legal awareness, and asked the court to consider reducing his sentence.
Considering that the defendant’s actions were a violation of the law and a crime of smuggling, the panel sentenced Luong Thi Huong to 3 years in prison, but suspended the sentence, with a probation period of 60 months. The court also ordered the confiscation of more than 64 tons of corn worth 320 million VND.
