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Mentally ill patient found running drug trafficking ring inside hospital

Mentally ill patient found running drug trafficking ring inside hospital

Nguyen Xuan Quy (in the smaller photo) and exhibits of the case - PHOTO: HANOI POLICE DEPARTMENT

HCMC – Nguyen Xuan Quy, a patient of the National Psychiatric Hospital No. 1 in Hanoi, used staff of the hospital to set up a room there to use and trade illicit drugs, according to the Hanoi Police Department.

On March 31, the department announced that it had prosecuted and detained Quy and four others---- Nguyen Van Ngoc, Nguyen Trung Nguyen, Nguyen Cong Thuong and Le Hoang Hai--- for allegedly trading, storing and organizing the use of drugs, the local media reported.

In addition, Nguyen Anh Vu, an employee of the hospital’s rehabilitation and traditional medicine department, was prosecuted and detained for not denouncing the criminals. When he was detained, Vu tested positive for drugs.

After raiding their residences, the police seized 6.1 kilograms of drugs.

The police said that the accused had traded a large volume of drugs using subtle ruses.

Quy was taken to the National Psychiatric Hospital No. 1 for treatment in November 2018. He repeatedly escaped from the hospital and was detained by the police of Hanoi’s Hai Ba Trung District for allegedly storing drugs in January 2021. As Quy suffers from a mental illness, the police sent him back to the hospital for treatment.

During the treatment period, he equipped a room at the hospital with loudspeakers and laser lamps and made it soundproof to facilitate others to use drugs. Quy and his accomplices invited their friends and staff of the hospital to the room to use the drugs.

Quy also traded drugs inside the hospital. He assigned his henchmen to hand over the drugs to buyers, who posed as relatives of patients. They also asked buyers to stand at a tennis court and a parking lot of the hospital and threw drugs from the window of a room on the second floor.

To avoid being discovered, Quy asked Nguyen and Thuong to pose as taxi or ride-hailing motorbike drivers and stand at the hospital’s gate. They were also responsible for delivering the drugs.

The Ministry of Health's Department of Medical Checkups and Treatment on March 31 asked the director of the National Psychiatric Hospital No. 1 to report the case.

In response, Vuong Van Tinh, director of the hospital, said he did not know what Quy was doing, and if he did, he would not have let it happen.

At a meeting of the hospital on April 1, leaders of the hospital ordered the clarification of the responsibility of the relevant individuals.

The hospital’s leaders affirmed that the hospital always complied with regulations and was willing to cooperate with the Ministry of Health and other agencies in the case.

In related news, the Ministry of Health today, April 1, suspended Tinh; doctor Do Thi Luu, head of the rehabilitation and traditional medicine department; and nurse Ta Thi Them of the department from their posts.

According to Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, the case is serious as the law as well as the management and medical checkup-treatment processes at the hospital were all violated.

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