A Ho Chi Minh City court Thursday sentenced two men to death for abetting a German man traffic 30 kilograms of drugs into the city by concealing them in coffee machines shipped by post.
Nguyen Tien Quang, 26, and Vo Phi Son, 31, of Gia Lai Province in Vietnam's Central Highlands were found guilty of "illegal transportation of narcotic substances."
The two were part of a drug trafficking network that smuggled large quantities of drugs hidden inside coffee machines, the court said.
The man believed to be the ringleader, known only as "Cot," remains unidentified in Germany, and authorities have yet to gather sufficient evidence to prosecute him.
Investigators found that Son and Quang had been hired by him to deliver drugs to clients in HCMC.
In November 2022, acting on his instructions, the pair took delivery of 10,000 ecstasy pills weighing over seven kilograms hidden in postal packages and delivered them to a customer in Vietnam.
For this, Son was paid VND100 million (US$3,900) and Quang got VND50 million.
But the two were under police surveillance.
On Dec. 15, 2022, as Quang received three packages from a mail carrier in Go Vap District, a task force comprising officers from several agencies caught him red-handed.
On inspection, they found each coffee machine containing a plastic bag with 30,000 yellow ecstasy tablets weighing over 22.5 kg.
A search of Quang's house uncovered a further quantity of ecstasy, which he had bought online from a man named "Tikitiki" to resell.
After learning of Quang's arrest, Son fled to his hometown. While evading capture, and burdened by debt, he worked for a man named Hai based in Cambodia to transport drugs ranging in quantities from 50 grams to 1 kilogram.
Son was eventually apprehended in July 2024.
VietBF@ Sưu tập