Vietnamese TikTokers sentenced to 9 years in prison for drug use organization

In a related case, defendant Tran Kim Thanh received an 11-year prison sentence for illegal drug trafficking.

Duy and Hoang jointly operate the ‘Nhat Duy - Nhat Hoang’ TikTok channel, which has nearly 100,000 followers.

Their videos primarily focused on daily life, travel, and entertainment activities.

According to the indictment, at around noon on February 14, 2025, police in An Khanh Ward conducted an administrative inspection of a house on Nguyen Thi Dinh Street owned by Nguyen Hoang Huu Luan.

Officers discovered Hoang, Duy and Nguyen Tan Duc inside Luan’s bedroom, and all four individuals had just consumed illegal drugs.

The investigation found that the four had been friends and had begun using drugs together in 2024.

The group reportedly consumed narcotics on multiple occasions, with Duy responsible for purchasing the drugs, collecting contributions from the others, and making payments.

During questioning, he admitted that he initially turned to drugs to relieve stress but later became unable to quit, using them whenever he felt under pressure.

Court documents detailed four separate incidents involving the group.

In October 2024, Duy encouraged the group to contribute money to purchase 10 ecstasy pills and a quantity of ketamine from a woman identified only as Trang for VND6.5 million ($247).

On November 20, 2024, Duy again purchased drugs worth VND6.5 million using his own money before being reimbursed by Hoang and the other participants.

In both instances, the drugs were allegedly supplied by the same woman, whose full identity remains unknown.

The third incident occurred on December 31, 2024, when Duy bought 15 ecstasy pills and a quantity of ketamine from Tran Kim Thanh, 36, for VND9 million ($342).

After consuming the drugs, each participant paid VND2 million ($76) to Duy.

On the evening of February 13, 2025, the group continued to purchase drugs from Thanh.

The following day, police detained them and brought them in for questioning.

During the investigation, Thanh told investigators that Thanh had obtained the drugs from a man known only as Vinh, whose identity has not been established.

Thanh admitted to meeting Vinh while working as an employee at a bar.

Thanh confessed to receiving a commission of VND500,000 ($19) for each drug transaction involving Duy’s group, while earning VND1 million ($38) from the first sale.