The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court heard the trial of members of a contraband smuggling ring on Thursday, who were all involved in illegal trade of electronic goods.
The People’s Procuracy has charged 49-year-old Nguyen Minh Hoang from Binh Thanh District and 37-year-old Nguyen Duc Vu from District 7 for smuggling, for which they could receive upto 5-7 years in prison.
30-year-old Pham Tien Trung could receive 1-2 years prison term while well known model, 24-year-old Le Xuan Vinh Thuy will be held on probation, both on charges of illegal trading.
In court, Hoang and Vu confessed that they had been contacted by Do Thanh Lam who lived in Australia, to illegally transport electronic appliances from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh City.
Since February to June 2010, they carried in their personal belongings about 997 items including laptops, record players, cameras and cell phones worth VND6.5 trillion (US$309,000), for sale in Vietnam.
Although Tien, Trung and Vinh Thuy were not licensed to trade electronic appliances, they still brought in the contraband goods to resell into the country.
The People’s Procuracy thus proposed a 5-7 year prison sentence for Hoang and Vu, 1-2 years for Tien and Trung and 6-9 months probation for Thuy.
