Three drug dealers have been sentenced for peddling cannabis in south Essex after they were pulled over for a suspected driving offence.[1] They appeared at Basildon Crown Court on Monday (November 2), where two were jailed but one walked free.[1] All three had been charged with possessing a Class B drug with intent to supply, to which they initially pleaded not guilty.[1] Judge Richard Conley jailed Back’s two co-defendants.[1] Trung, 45, of no fixed abode in Norwich, was sentenced to 36 months.[1] Vo-Trong, 38, also of no fixed abode in Norwich, was handed 25 months.[1] He was sentenced to 14 months in prison, suspended for 18 months.[1]
Lewis Back, Pham Trung and Hieu Vo-Trong were travelling in a white Ford Transit which Essex Police spotted at junction 29 of the M25, entering the A127 towards Southend on February 24.[1] Officers believed it was being driven without insurance.[1] They followed it to Gardiners Lane North in Basildon, where it was pulled over and searched.[1] The occupants were found to be carrying cannabis.[1]
Back and Vo-Trong later changed their pleas to guilty while Trung took his chance with a jury and was convicted, meaning he lost any deduction to his sentence.[1] Back, 32, of London Road in Sevenoaks, Kent, who had been driving the van, also pleaded guilty to simple possession of cannabis resin.[1] The driving offence for which he was initially pulled over was ultimately abandoned.[1]
