Ho Chi Minh City's Ha Danh Nam and eight other people were identified as leaders or key players in buying and selling large amounts of drugs originating from Europe or Cambodia and then distributing them to many provinces and cities.
After more than a week of trialing 227 defendants in the VN10 case, on August 24, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Procuracy proposed the death penalty for 9 people for the same crime of illegal drug trafficking. Most admitted the acts as charged and asked for a reduced sentence.
The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court is in the process of deliberation and will issue a verdict on September 3.
>> List of 9 people recommended for the death penalty
Ha Danh Nam's drug source from France
Among the 9 defendants, Ha Danh Nam, 52 years old, from Nghe An, is accused of leading and controlling the supply of drugs from France to Vietnam.
Nam organized to hide drugs in toothpaste, coffee, chocolate, shampoo... and then hired people studying or working in France to hide them in luggage or send them via courier service to Vietnam.
When the goods arrived, Hoang Sy Thang and Bui Van Anh delivered them to the buyer as directed. One of the flights discovered on March 16, 2023 at Tan Son Nhat airport contained more than 8.3 kg of MDMA and nearly 3 kg of Ketamine, brought back from France by 4 female flight attendants.
According to the allegations, in addition to this shipment, the ring successfully brought many other particularly large shipments of drugs from France to Vietnam. One of the major buyers is Nguyen Huy Hoang.
Nearly 120,000 ecstasy pills passed through contact Nguyen Huy Hoang
At the end of 2022, Nguyen Huy Hoang, 29 years old, met a person using the Telegram account "Teo", living in Germany, identified as Nam, specializing in supplying cheap drugs from Europe.
From February 23 to March 16, 2023, Hoang ordered from "Teo" 7 batches of 118,600 MDMA pills, equivalent to 39.8 kg, then sold them to Le Thang Anh Tu, Van Hoang Minh and other contacts.
Hoang hired Nguyen Tuan Anh to receive the goods; Huynh Thanh Hung stored, distributed or delivered drugs to customers.
Of the 118,600 pills, Hoang sold Tu 87,000 pills through many lots, delivered 14,000 pills to Hung, and sold Minh 10,000 pills. Tu then returned Hoang 7,600 tablets to send back to old Binh Duong for "Teo". Hoang claimed to buy it for 80,000-82,000 VND per pill and then resell it at a higher price.
In addition to Nam's source, Hoang is also accused of buying about 5 kg of Ketamine from Nguyen Xuan Hieu, who is currently fugitive.
Tuan Anh received drugs under Hoang's direction and then directly delivered them to customers or took Hung to deliver them, being paid 300,000 VND to 2 million VND each time.
The Procuracy proposed the death penalty for Hoang, Tuan Anh and Hung. In particular, Hoang was held criminally responsible for nearly 40 kg of ecstasy and 5 kg of Ketamine; Tuan Anh returned all the ecstasy pills and a kilogram of Ketamine delivered as directed; Hung brought home 12 kg of ecstasy and more than 7 kg of Ketamine.
Contacts buy dozens of kilograms of drugs
Le Thang Anh Tu was identified as one of Hoang's main sales contacts, claiming to have purchased a total of nearly 32 kg of MDMA 4 times.
From October 2022, Tu hired Dao Duy Phuong to receive, store and deliver drugs to customers with a salary of 40 million VND per month.
On March 16, 2023, Phuong received from Tuan Anh 18,000 ecstasy pills, more than 7 kg, according to Tu's instructions, then stored and gradually delivered to customers. The remainder and many other drugs were confiscated at home.
Tu also bought Ketamine from Nguyen Xuan Hieu many times to resell, 1-2 times a month, 1-10 kg each time, at a price of 380-400 million VND/kg.
In March 2023, Tu ordered 10 kg of Ketamine, delivered it to Phuong and stored it in an apartment in Ha Do apartment building, old Go Vap district, to sell to customers. The unsold amount was confiscated when the police searched Phuong's residence.
Another contact is Van Hoang Minh, Hoang's buyer of 10,000 MDMA pills, weighing 3.9 kg, priced at 800 million VND, then directed Hung to receive and resell a portion.
The Procuracy proposed the death penalty for Tu, Phuong and Minh. Tu was accused of being responsible for more than 35 kg of MDMA, more than 14 kg of Ketamine and more than 11 kg of assorted drugs; Phuong had more than 31.8 kg of MDMA and more than 14 kg of various drugs; Minh over 6 kg of drugs.
Trading branch via Telegram, Signal
In addition to Hoang's group, Nam's drugs were also determined to be sold to Le Nguyen Gia Bao's group.
On March 7, 2023, Bao instructed his juniors to receive a box delivered by Bui Van Anh in the old District 7, containing more than 5,000 ecstasy pills, nearly 2 kg, then divided them to sell to many customers.
Bao was also accused of selling drugs since 2021, after meeting many contacts through friends and Telegram and Signal groups, buying Ketamine, ecstasy, and "happy water" to sell for profit.
In September 2022, Bao met Tran Kien An and created Telegram and Signal groups to direct his accomplices to receive, store, and deliver drugs. The two then met Trinh Bao Quan, who had a source of goods, and agreed to buy and sell through closed groups.
On November 13, 2022, Bao bought 4 kg of drugs from Quan, and An bought 1 kg, the same price of 427 million VND/kg. This number is then divided and sold to customers.
When expanding the investigation into Quan's network, the police arrested Bao and collected more than 2 kg of drugs at the defendant's residence in Vinhomes and Eco Green areas. Bao declared that this number was used and sold to customers.
The Procuracy proposed the death penalty for Bao, determining that the defendant was criminally responsible for more than 11.2 kg of Ketamine, more than 5.1 kg of ecstasy and more than 17 kg of other drugs.
From user to drug dealer
The 9th person recommended for death penalty is Pham Duc Duy. The defendant was addicted to drugs and from mid-2022 bought it from a person named Hoa, whose background is unknown, for use.
In early 2023, Duy accepted to deliver drugs to Hoa's customers with a salary of 300,000-500,000 VND each time. In early June 2023, Hoa twice delivered Duy about 0.5-1 kg of various drugs each time to give to customers. Duy then invited more people to participate in storage, packaging, and delivery.
In addition to leasing, Duy directly ordered drugs from Hoa three times to sell for profit.
On August 28, 2023, when Duy directed his accomplices to deliver drugs to customers, the police caught him red-handed. Searching the residence, the investigation agency confiscated more than 5 kg of drugs of all kinds.
Records have not yet determined which branch of drugs Duy and Hoa bought and sold. The actions of Duy and his accomplices were discovered when the authorities searched for people who had traded drugs with Tu - the focal point for consuming goods from the Hoang and Hieu groups.
According to the Procuracy, VN10 is a particularly serious case, forming a trafficking network, transporting a particularly large amount of drugs from Europe and Cambodia to Vietnam and then distributing them to many provinces and organizations for use. The defendants disguised drugs in goods, took advantage of delivery services, secure messaging applications and unofficial bank accounts to hide cash flows.
In addition to Nam, 8 people recommended for death were identified as masterminds, initiators or active participants in buying and selling particularly large amounts of drugs.
The remaining defendants were sentenced by the Procuracy from one year and six months to life imprisonment for one or more drug-related crimes.
