The People’s Court in Nghe An Province, north-central Vietnam handed down a life sentence to a former police officer for illegally trading narcotics in 2020.

The provincial People’s Court on Thursday held a trial for Tran Van Viet, 38, and Nguyen Trong Minh Quang, 30, both from Nghe An Province, and Nguyen Van Khanh, 28, from north-central Ha Tinh Province.

Viet was a police officer in Que Phong District, Nghe An at the time of his arrest.

The indictment showed that anti-narcotics officers under the Ministry of Public Security caught Viet red-handed transporting one kilogram of ketamine and a brick of heroin hidden under the seat of his automobile on September 13, 2020.

Viet claimed that he had purchased the narcotics from a man in the border commune of Tri Le in Que Phong District and that the man had sourced the drugs from Laos.

Viet also claimed he was on his way to deliver the drugs to Quang, according to a prior agreement.

Competent authorities expanded their investigation and found that Viet and Quang had bought and sold two kilograms of drugs worth VND850 million (US$37,100) on two occasions between July and September 2020.

Khanh worked for Quang and was in charge of transporting the narcotics via passenger buses to southern localities and distributing them to local buyers.

The court concluded the trial by sentencing Viet and Quang to life, while Khanh received a 20-year prison term.

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