On June 26, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first-instance trial of defendants Le Van Sang (38 years old, residing in Thanh Dong commune, Thanh Chuong) and Pham Dinh Hieu (20 years old, residing in Do Thanh commune, Yen Thanh) for illegally transporting goods across the border and transporting prohibited goods.

According to case records, Hieu and Sang both worked for Nguyen Trong Thai (34 years old, Hieu's brother-in-law).

In mid-August 2023, Thai directed Hieu and Sang to go to Laos to transport rosewood and pangolin scales to Vietnam. The shipment had no documents, so Hieu and Sang hid it in a secret compartment in the trunk of the car and drove it back to Vietnam.

During the customs clearance process to enter Vietnam, Hieu declared that "the vehicle was not carrying anything".

At about 10:00 a.m. on August 18, 2023, when the vehicle passed through Hung Thong commune, Hung Nguyen district, it was checked by authorities.

Police discovered and seized 29 rosewood logs weighing more than 2 tons and 63 sacks containing more than 2.5 tons of pangolin scales.

After Hieu and Sang were arrested, Thai immediately fled the area. Nghe An Provincial Police Department has prosecuted and issued a wanted notice for Thai.

Authorities determined that the above rosewood is worth 600 million VND and the 2.5 tons of pangolin scales are worth more than 12 billion VND.

At the trial, both defendants claimed that they were hired workers who only illegally transported the above mentioned goods under the direction of their boss.

The first instance trial panel sentenced Sang to 8 years in prison and Hieu to 7 years in prison.

As for Thai, the police investigation agency has separated him into another case. When he is arrested, he will be tried later.