Death sentence upheld for transporting 20 heroin cakes

On the morning of July 25, the People's Court of Nghe An province held an appeal trial of defendant Xong Ba Tenh (born in 1986), residing in Na Ngoi commune, Ky Son district, for the crime of "Illegal transportation of drugs".

At the appeal hearing, defendant Tenh asked for a lighter sentence. The reason given by Tenh was that his parents and grandparents had contributed to the revolution and helped the border guards, and that he himself was an ethnic minority with limited legal awareness, and that he had committed the crime out of greed.

Xong Ba Tenh at the time he was arrested by Tuong Duong district police in July 2017. Photo courtesy

However, the appellate panel held that this mitigating circumstance had been considered by the first instance panel. In addition, Tenh failed to present any additional mitigating circumstances. Meanwhile, the defendant’s actions were particularly serious, and the amount of drugs transported was very large. Therefore, the appellate panel rejected the defendant’s appeal and upheld the death sentence as in the first instance trial.

The illegal act of the defendant Xong Ba Tenh took place in July 2017. At that time, an unknown man hired Tenh to deliver a backpack from Na Ngoi to Luu Kien commune (Tuong Duong district) for 5 million VND. Tenh opened the backpack and saw many square packages. Thinking about the 5 million VND that this person hired him for, Tenh knew that it was drugs.

On the morning of July 13, 2017, Tenh tied his backpack to the back of his car and drove straight from Na Ngoi to Luu Kien commune to deliver the goods and receive his wages, but was discovered and arrested by Tuong Duong district police. The authorities concluded that the 20 packages of white powder seized from Tenh were heroin weighing more than 7kg.