Death sentence for Pham Van Trung - the subject who illegally transported nearly 7 kg of drugs from Germany to Hai Duong

According to the indictment, in September 2023, Trung made friends on social media with a man who introduced himself as Hung, who was living in Germany. Hung then called Trung to hire him to transport drugs sent by Hung from Germany to Vietnam.

After receiving the goods, Hung will provide Trung with the next receiving location, Trung will receive a salary of 5 million VND. Trung told Hung to send the goods to the recipient named Pham Van Anh (Trung made up his own name to avoid his real name) at 120 Dien Bien Phu, Hai Duong City.

On October 16, 2023, an employee of a Viettel post office in Hai Duong City told Trung to come and pick up a package sent from Germany. Afraid of being discovered, Trung did not come to pick up the package immediately. Trung drove to An Thai Street (Hai Duong City) and hired Mr. Hoang Van Luu (a motorbike taxi driver) to go to the Viettel Post Office to pick up a package. Trung did not tell Mr. Luu specifically what kind of package it was.

Trung gave Mr. Luu a phone to bring to the Viettel Post office for the staff to check the messages and the recipient's phone number. Trung gave Mr. Luu 200,000 VND to pay the shipping fee of the package which was 100,000 VND, gave the counter staff 50,000 VND, and paid Mr. Luu 50,000 VND for his wages.

Trung asked Mr. Luu to bring the received goods to the street in front of house number 25 An Thai street, Binh Han ward (Hai Duong city) to return the package to Trung. When Mr. Luu left, Trung drove his car behind and parked the car opposite the Viettel Post office to monitor Mr. Luu coming to receive the goods.

At around 9:55 a.m. the same day, Mr. Luu entered the Viettel Post Office. The Post Office staff confirmed that the phone number was correct as stated in the order and asked Mr. Luu to sign for a package and pay 100,000 VND for the postage. The incident was discovered by a working group of the Investigation Police Department of Hai Duong Province Police; at the same time, Trung was arrested while sitting in a car opposite the Viettel Post Office.

The police investigation agency seized a container containing 6,992.651 grams of synthetic drugs.

Trung confessed that he hired Mr. Luu to receive the package containing drugs so that Trung could continue to send it to the address requested by a man named Hung (the next address to receive the drugs was not sent to Trung by Hung), but was discovered. Trung has not yet received the payment of 5 million VND from Hung.

Based on the nature, level and criminality of the case, the Trial Panel sentenced Pham Van Trung to death for the crime of illegal transportation of narcotics as prescribed in Point b, Clause 4, Article 250 of the Penal Code.

Regarding the man named Hung who hired Trung to illegally transport drugs, the Hai Duong Provincial Police Investigation Agency has sent a document requesting judicial assistance to Germany. The Supreme People's Procuracy has sent a request for judicial assistance to the Ministry of Justice of the Federal Republic of Germany, but there has been no result of judicial assistance. The Hai Duong Provincial Police Investigation Agency has issued a Decision to separate the relevant acts and documents in the criminal case for further verification and clarification to have a basis for later handling.

Because Mr. Luu did not know Trung committed a crime, the Police Investigation Agency did not prosecute him.