Going to school to visit his son, father transported opium

On March 24, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Gia Phai Tinh (born 1982), residing in Tri Le commune, Que Phong district, for the crime of "Illegally transporting narcotics".

According to the indictment, on the morning of October 4, 2022, Tinh rode a motorbike to Kim Son town, Que Phong district to visit his son who was studying at the district's Continuing Education Center.

When arriving at Chau Thon commune, Que Phong district, Gia Phai Tinh saw a Mong man (unknown origin and address) waving his hand to signal the car to stop, so he stopped. After asking, knowing that Tinh was going to town to visit his son, this man said: "You take the package to Kim Son town, someone will receive it, the fee is 400,000 VND".

Defendant Gia Phai Tinh. Photo: Tran Vu

Tinh agreed to receive two blue bags and money from the stranger. On the way, Tinh stopped the car to check and found many pink pills inside the two bags.

When arriving at Que Phong District Medical Center, Tinh stopped the car to wait for someone to come out to receive the "goods" but did not see anyone. A moment later, Tinh went to a nearby vacant lot and threw two bags of drugs into the bushes next to the road, but was discovered and arrested by the police. The evidence of the case was more than 40 grams of drugs and two 200,000 VND bills.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime. The defendant said that at first he did not know that the package contained drugs, but when he stopped to check, he knew. The defendant admitted that he committed the crime because he was greedy for 400,000 VND.

The defendant presented his difficult circumstances, his family being poor and being an ethnic minority, asking the court to consider reducing his sentence.

Considering the case in its entirety, the court sentenced defendant Gia Phai Tinh to 15 years in prison for "Illegally transporting narcotics". As for the man who hired the defendant to transport the drugs, Tinh did not know his background or address, so the authorities had no basis to clarify and handle the case./.