Quang Tri Provincial People's Court sentenced notorious gangster Nguyen Quoc Quan to death

After 2 days of trial, on the afternoon of August 29, the People's Court of Quang Tri province sentenced defendant Nguyen Quoc Quan (also known as "Quan Idol", 33 years old, residing in Khe Sanh town, Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri province) to death for "Illegal transportation of drugs", 8 years in prison for "Extortion of property", 4 years in prison for "Illegal detention", 1 year in prison for "Threatening to kill" and a fine of 700 million VND for "Lending money at high interest rates in civil transactions". The total sentence is death.

Regarding this case, the Trial Panel of the People's Court of Quang Tri province sentenced the defendants Pham Cong Dinh, Le Van Son (both 34 years old, residing in Cam Thanh commune, Cam Lo district, Quang Tri), Tran Le Duy Thinh (27 years old, residing in Thanh An commune, Cam Lo district, Quang Tri) to death for the crime of "Illegal transportation of narcotics" as prescribed in Point e, Clause 4, Article 250 of the Penal Code.

Defendant Nguyen Phi Cuong (32 years old, residing in Khe Sanh town, Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri) was sentenced to 2 years in prison for "Illegal detention", 7 years in prison for "Organizing illegal use of narcotics", and 6 years in prison for "Illegal possession of narcotics". The total sentence is 15 years in prison.

Defendant Hoang Thai Manh (32 years old, residing in Khe Sanh town, Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri) was sentenced to 2 years in prison for "Illegal detention" and 7 years in prison for "Extortion". The total sentence is 9 years in prison.

Defendant Dinh Van Thai (34 years old, residing in Khe Sanh town, Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri) was sentenced to 5 years in prison for the crime of "Extortion of property". Defendant Tran Hoai Thanh (32 years old, residing in Khe Sanh town, Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri) was sentenced to 7 years in prison for the crime of "Extortion of property".

Defendant Le Thi Le (33 years old, residing in Dong Luong ward, Dong Ha city, Quang Tri) was fined 200 million VND for the crime of "Lending high interest rates in civil transactions".

According to the indictment of the People's Procuracy of Quang Tri province, in these cases, Nguyen Quoc Quan was the mastermind, directly carried out, directed and managed the criminal acts.

Other defendants were hired, enticed, and assisted by Quan to actively commit crimes for personal gain and other motives.

On February 13, 2023, Le Van Son, Pham Cong Dinh and Tran Le Duy Thinh illegally transported more than 10kg of ketamine into Ho Chi Minh City for consumption and were caught red-handed by the authorities.

According to the indictment, Quan was the one who used Zalo to communicate with Son about the transportation, then Son communicated with Dinh and Thinh to carry out the transportation. During the transportation, they were checked by the traffic police, so Dinh and Thinh abandoned the drugs on the side of the road to escape.

That same evening, Son drove Dinh back to the location where he threw the drugs to get them, but was arrested by the police.

In the indictment, the representative of the People's Procuracy of Quang Tri province emphasized that defendant Quan did not admit to illegally transporting drugs, however, based on defendant Son's statements consistent with the appraisals and data extracted by the investigation agency.

The content of the exchange between Quan and Son in the text messages is: "divide 5-5", "divide 7-3" is the text message from Quan instructing Son to divide 10kg of drugs into 2 bags with the ratio of each bag being 5-5 and 7-3. Son texted these contents back to Dinh, then Dinh asked Thinh to do it. The direction to divide according to the above ratio is consistent with the drug case evidence that the police seized, consistent with Son's testimony and the developments of the case.

Quan did not admit to his actions, but evidence, appraisal, and testimony determined that Quan used Zalo to direct Son to transport 10kg of drugs, so the death penalty was recommended.

According to records, Nguyen Quoc Quan was convicted four times for "Theft of property" in 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2015. After completing his prison sentence, from 2021-2023, Quan hired, persuaded, directed and managed many juniors to commit acts of illegal detention, illegal transportation of drugs, loan sharking in civil transactions, and extortion.

In August 2023, Quang Tri Provincial Police arrested Quan Idol and his accomplices to investigate the act of illegal detention. During the investigation, the Investigation Agency continued to prosecute the criminal case and prosecute Quan Idol and other accomplices related to the above crimes.

Before being arrested, Quan Idol emerged as a notorious, wealthy gangster who drove a luxury car with a nice license plate in a mountainous district of Quang Tri province.

During the investigation as well as at the trial, except for Quan Idol who did not admit and evaded the charge of drug trafficking, the remaining 8 defendants all confessed honestly, repented, and asked for leniency from the law.

After deliberation, considering the nature and level of particularly serious violations of the case, the Trial Panel sentenced as above.