Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Court opened a first-instance trial on 12 November 2026 of 15 defendants in a cannabis buying and selling ring that traded in especially large quantities through social media and app-based delivery.[1] Nine defendants are charged with illegal drug trading, five with organising illegal drug use and one with failing to report a crime.[1] Hà Duy Bách, born in 2006, is accused of coordinating the ring’s cannabis storehouse.[2]
The case began on the afternoon of 5 June 2025, when a 363 task force of Ho Chi Minh City police stopped Nguyễn Quang Long on a motorbike outside 56 Út Tịch in Tân Bình district and found 0.839 g of cannabis in the storage compartment.[1] Long said he had bought it from Diệp Tiểu Hoàng Nguyên, and a search of Nguyên’s flat at the Topaz Home block in District 12 found 19.32 g.[1] On 18 June 2025 police caught Võ Thị Hải Vân with nearly 1 kg of cannabis in District 8 and seized another 901 g at her home in District 4.[1] Searches of two premises used by Bách in District 12 and Gò Vấp district found more than 104 kg of cannabis in the storehouse and an unquantified amount at his home.[1]
Bách said that in about May 2025 a person using the Telegram and Signal account “Elon Musk”, whose identity is not established, hired him for 50 million đồng a month to receive, store and deliver cannabis.[1] Around 10 June 2025 he collected six cartons of cannabis from four unidentified men at the border in Giang Thành district, Kiên Giang province, and took them to the storehouse in District 12, where they weighed 122.5 kg.[1] Orders were posted in a Telegram group called “SG TỔNG KHO CHÍNH”, roughly “HCMC main warehouse”, and the drugs were paid for through a Binance e-wallet.[1] The indictment says Bách sold 1 kg to Lê Hoàng Hải, 2 kg to Văn Lê Khải Hoàn, 2 kg to Vân, 1.5 kg to Nguyễn Văn Năm and 5 g to Lương Thanh Hải, and holds him liable for more than 110.5 kg.[1]
Hoàn received cannabis from Bách and a person called “Khoai Lang”, and more than 4 kg was seized from his flat at the Ehome 3 block.[1] Nguyễn Đức Thành Lộc is held liable for 311.82 g and Đoàn Quang Thắng for 469.93 g, both said to have worked under a Telegram account called “RiTo420”.[1] Police said they were still verifying the people behind the “Elon Musk”, “Khoai Lang” and “RiTo420” accounts.[1]
