After getting help from authorized organizations in Vietnam and Laos, Tuoi Tre reporters visited the prison in Bolykhamxay Province of Laos to meet drug lord Xieng Phenh, who is facing the death sentence for the second time.

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Tiptoeing out the iron door of the detention room, Xieng Phenh lowered his knee and shook his clasped hands as a greeting to the superintendent.

Xieng Phenh speaks Vietnamese fluently. “When I was a child, my house was located on the border area of Vietnam and Laos, and I crossed the river to study Vietnamese in Dien Bien Province,” he recalled.

That became an advantage for him after joining in with two Vietnamese police officials, Vu Xuan Truong and Vu Huu Chinh, to traffic drugs. Truong and Chinh used to work for special units that fought against the drug trade.

Xieng Phenh was captured by police in Hanoi in 1995 and was sentenced to death. However, he received amnesty for informing on Vu Xuan Truong and Nguyen Huu Chinh before the sentence was to be implemented on June 21, 1996.

Vietnam’s Government then gave him remissions five times during his ensuing 15 year prison sentence.

After being released, Xieng Phenh and his daughter, Chan Tha Lay, opened a farm raising hundreds of chickens. However, the birds were hit by disease and quickly died.

“I had earned a lot of money from the drug trade. After getting out of prison, I did not find another better way to make money, and thus shut my eyes to venture into the old path,” Xieng Phenh said.

Xieng Phenh and his son-in-law set up a new drug trafficking ring, which mainly imported heroin from the Golden Triangle, the isolated area where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet.

“At that time, I was greedy for cash and thought I could use tricks to avoid police forces,” he said.

Xieng Phenh was later caught red-handed while examining 39 heroin cakes at a hotel room in Bolykhamxay Province.

“I was scared to breath. When the police raided the room and arrested me, I bit my tongue intending to kill myself, but then feared death,” he confessed.

Xieng Phenh’s daughter has been jailed in Luang Prabang Province for trading drugs for two years.

Looking out the interrogation room’s window, Xieng Phenh said that “I am now too sad. I want my relatives to visit me, but I also do not want to see anyone, since I’m scared that they would cry when they meet me,” he said.

Several nights in the prison he has gone sleepless, since he has thought over his life so much. He regrets leading his daughter down such a dangerous path.

“I would not die without money, and now the death sentence is waiting for me. My life is about to close,” he said.

“What do you desire now?”, asked O Kham, the police official from the Bolykhamxay Province Police Department who directly investigated the Xieng Phenh case.

Xieng Phenh raised his hands as if in prayer and said, “I miss my wife and family so much and just want to live with them for a few days, I dream to return and once again raise chickens to earn my living.”