Hanoi ex-police officials face death penalty for aiding female drug kingpin

After a month-long delay to review new evidence, the Hanoi People’s Court resumed the trial on Tuesday for 12 defendants, including Huong, 40, and Nguyen Van Hung, 44, and Ha Minh Duc, 40, both former Hanoi police officers.

During the hearing, the Hanoi People’s Procuracy announced the indictment and requested death sentences for 11 defendants and life imprisonment for one.

Hung and Duc face capital punishment for assisting Huong’s drug operations for personal gain.

Prosecutors alleged that Hung earned over VND1 billion (US$38,200) and Duc approximately VND740 million ($28,300) from Huong, who was considered the drug kingpin, through their involvement.

Huong was spared the death penalty and instead recommended for life imprisonment due to her full confessions and status as a mother to a young child, which the court considered mitigating factors.

Duc allegedly assisted Huong in trafficking 134.8kg of narcotics, while Hung was accused of personally driving an official police vehicle to transport the drugs.

In May 2019, when Huong deemed her rental room unsafe for storage, she asked Hung to temporarily hide the drugs in the garage behind his house.

Hung allegedly agreed, storing 4 or 5 kilograms of methamphetamine and some 12,000 amphetamine tablets—both synthetic drugs—in a cardboard box inside his garage.

Prosecutors also sought the death penalty for Nguyen The Thanh, identified as the person who received drugs from a Laotian, his brother Nguyen The Lap, and seven other accomplices.

Their indictment states that from April 2019 to January 2021, they trafficked nearly 137 kilograms of narcotics from Laos through Nghe An and Ha Tinh Provinces and onward to Hanoi.

A portion was sold in Hanoi and Bac Ninh.