Military captain sentenced to death for running 227-kg narcotics ring

Le Minh Tri, 34, the former military captain, stood trial at the 7th Military Region court for charges of illegal drug trade and storing and trading precursors for drug manufacturing.

In 2017, Tri, then a captain at the Counseling Department of HCMC Military Command, decided to sell narcotics to settle his debts from business losses and fund personal expenses.

Through his connections, he met Bo and Kenny, two Vietnamese individuals with French nationality, from whom he purchased MDMA and ketamine to smuggle into Vietnam.

Between October 2021 and April 2023, Tri acquired 97 kg of drugs from Bo and Kenny, valued at VND29.6 billion ($1.18 million). The payments were transferred to various accounts as instructed by Bo and Kenny.

Tri then employed Thai Cam Tam, a ride-hailing taxi driver, to receive the drug shipments and conceal them in a house.

HCMC police detected Tri’s operations in September 2021 and started to keep tabs on it.

Investigation found that Tri started the business by dividing the drug powder smuggled from Europe into small pills for resale.

He then attempted to increase his profit by mixing it with other substances to turn the sum of drugs into 227 kg to sell for nearly VND36 billion.

Tri also tried to manufacture his own drugs in early 2021. He bought drug precursors from China and hired Tu Nam Anh, a former national high school chemistry competition runner-up and then a biotechnology college student, for the production. However, Tri dismissed Anh in August 2021 due to the poor quality of the drugs he produced, which contained too many contaminants.

Police busted Tri’s ring in April 2023 when one of his deliverymen was caught.

The court identified Tri as the ringleader, responsible for orchestrating the procurement and production of the drugs. Both Tri and Tam received death sentences for their crimes.

Anh was convicted of storing precursors for illegal drug manufacturing and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Tri and several accomplices have filed appeals for commuted sentences.